After months of talks now the national football stadium is a step closer. Slavija Sofia, the Bulgarian FA and German investors IFS agreed on the new arena in Ovcza Kupel. This will be Bulgaria's bid for Euro 2020.

This week saw one major step being done in Sofia towards a new national stadium. The Bulgarian FA (BFU), local team Slavija Sofia and German investor IFS agined their agreement to build a new 33,000-capacity national stadium.

Negotiations have been ongoing for months. Slavija, who are the current tenants at the southern-western Ovcha Kupel stadium, have shown dedication towards the project, but efforts to convince another Sofia-based club (CSKA) were made.

Eventually CSKA decided to stay away from Ovcha Kupel, making the deal less attractive for IFS. Should both Slavija and CSKA play their home games at the new stadium, event calendar would be stuffed without major efforts throughout the football season. CSKA is also the more attractive club, but even without the army team at the new stadium national side's games should increase the marketing value.

Project's budget is estimated at merely €40 million, which is very low for 33,000 seats. The tight amount will be rovided by IFS, who in return will hold all marketing rights of the stadium. The national football association, BFU, also benefits from the deal, finally having a stadium plan for their Euro 2020 bid, due later this month.

The project still needs to be approved by Sofia authorities, but with funding burden taken off public authorities it seems very likely to be passed soon.