Overview
- Berbatov says he was 18 and playing for CSKA Sofia when a teammate drove him to a restaurant where men tried to pressure him to join their team.
- He recounts being kept there for two to three hours by intimidating figures who told him they wanted him to change clubs.
- He was eventually permitted to call his father, who arrived to take him away from the meeting.
- Berbatov says club bosses later agreed he would remain at CSKA, describing the period as “tough, tough times” in Bulgaria.
- The account surfaced in a Rio Ferdinand Presents interview and has been reported from his testimony, with no separate investigation or independent corroboration cited.