Bulgarian Man Of The Year - Dimitar Berbartov

I must say I am disappointed with this, but Bulgarians love their sportsmen and especially football and on top of this admire expatriates who do well abroad. The combination of this proved too strong for home based Bulgarians. There are in my opinion far better deserving Bulgarians that a guy that is paid a fortune for just kicking a ball around. Many will disagree of course.

Manchester United Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov has been named Man of The Year 2009 in a contest organised by Bulgaria's Darik Radio.

At a December 3 2009 ceremony at Sofia's Modern Theatre, Berbatov was announced as the winner, followed by Interior Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov and Detelin Dalakliev, who won the 2009 world amateur boxing title in the Bantamweight category.

Close to 13 000 people joined in the vote, which lasted for 25 days. Berbatov won 5443 of the votes, while Tvetanov got 4269 votes.

This is the second time that Berbatov has won the contest.

Berbatov attended the ceremony after taking a Manchester United jet, Darik said. After a stay of a few hours, he took the return flight, in possession of the symbol of his victory - a sword on which his name has been engraved.

Source: www.sofiaecho.com