The lowdown on England’s Euro 2020 qualifying opponents Bulgaria

England face Bulgaria on Monday night with the possibility of securing qualification to Euro 2020 if they win and other results go their way.Ahead of the Group A meeting in Sofia, the PA news agency takes a closer look at the hosts.FormHarry Kane netted a hat-trick against Bulgaria last month (Tim Goode/PA)Having not reached the finals of the European Championship or World Cup since Euro 2004, Bulgaria are in something of a rut.Krasimir Balakov took charge in May but his side sit bottom of Group A with three points and no wins from their opening six matches.England captain Harry Kane helped himself to a hat-trick as the Three Lions ran roughshod over the Bulgaria defence at Wembley last month, the 4-0 scoreline potentially even flattering the visitors.CoachKrasimir Balakov took charge of Bulgaria in May (John Walton/PA)A 92-cap Bulgaria international during his playing days, former midfielder Balakov was a popular choice as the nations new coach following his appointment earlier in the year.Narrow defeats to the Czech Republic and Kosovo, as well as the thrashing in England, and a goalless draw away in Montenegro means he has not had the immediate impact he would have liked.The 53-year-old has coached in Switzerland, Bulgaria, Croatia and Germany and also enjoyed a successful playing career the highlight being named in the FIFA all-star team at the 1994 World Cup having helped Bulgaria to the semi-finals in the United States during a golden era for the national side.StadiumThere will be 5,000 seats closed off at the Vasil Levski National Stadium due to anti-racism sanctions placed on Bulgaria by UEFA (Owen Humphreys/PA)The Vasil Levski National Stadium in Sofia would usually be close to its 46,000 capacity for the visit of a side such as England.But 5,000 seats are closed off after anti-racism sanctions placed on Bulgaria by UEFA following incidents in qualifiers against Kosovo and the Czech Republic earlier in the year.England manager Gareth Southgate has voiced his concerns over such an issue occurring on Monday, while his players have been briefed on UEFAs three-step protocol to taking action against any racist behaviour.Ashley Young was targeted on Englands last game at the stadium in 2011 but Southgate and his players will be wanting to leave with no repeat and three points in the bag this time around.PlayersBulgaria great Hristo Stoichkov was born #OnThisDay in 1966 83 caps 37 goals Bulgarian Footballer of the Year (4) 1994 World Cup top scorer 1994 Ballon d'Or pic.twitter.com/MOhiMY9H6c UEFA EURO 2020 (@UEFAEURO) February 8, 2018Balakov is rightly revered as one of Bulgarias best-ever players most of whom come from the same generation around the early 1990s.But there were none better than Hristo Stoichkov, who won five LaLigas and the Champions League with Barcelona.None of the current crop can claim such achievements, the bulk of the players plying their trade in their homeland at the likes of Ludogorets and the Sofia clubs.Captain Ivelin Popov plays for FC Rostov in Russia and has 16 goals from his 87 international caps, making him Bulgarias most potent and experienced player among Balakovs squad.(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){
(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),
m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)
})(window,document,'script','//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga');

ga('create', 'UA-72310761-1', 'auto', {'name': 'pacontentapi'});
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'referrer', location.origin);
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension1', 'By Mark Mann-Bryans, PA, Sofia');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension2', 'd9a25edf-0138-49bb-bd45-24e9b6bfff96');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension3', 'paservice:sport,paservice:sport:football,paservice:sport:uk,paservice:sport:world');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension6', 'story');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension7', 'composite');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension8', null);
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension9', 'sport:football');
ga('pacontentapi.send', 'pageview', { 'location': location.href, 'page': (location.pathname + location.search + location.hash), 'title': 'The lowdown on England\u2019s Euro 2020 qualifying opponents Bulgaria'});