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Former Manchester United and Tottenham star Dimitar Berbatov has opened up on being kidnapped by gangsters who tried to force him to move clubs.
Berbatov, 44, was an 18-year-old playing for CSKA Sofia in his native Bulgaria when the terrifying incident, which he kept secret from his United team-mates and at other clubs, occurred.
Speaking to Rio Ferdinand on his Rio Presents podcast, Berbatov revealed he was held hostage for several hours after being accosted at a restaurant by a group of men believed to be henchmen of notorious mobster Georgi Iliev - and admitted he thought he may be killed.
'I didn't have a car. So a teammate of mine, after training, he was like, "come with me, I need to bring you to a friend of mine," said Berbatov.
'And I was a bit naive, of course. And maybe I trusted him because we played in the same team. So I get into his car. He drove me to a restaurant.
'On one table, there was a guy by himself. And on three other tables, there were big guys, refrigerators, typical Balkan guys sitting behind him, just looking scary.
Dimitar Berbatov opened up on his kidnapping ordeal on Rio Ferdinand's podcast
'And the guy who brought me there was like, "go over there, sit, I’ll see you later." And the guy was like, "come here, sit down".
'I'm sitting down, and it's like, thinking to myself in my mind, "what is going on? What is going on? I need to call my dad, I need to call my dad".
'And the guy started talking. He's like, "do you know what they call me?" Now, in English, it’s going to be like, the word probably is going to be, they call me the cook.
'I'm like, all right. "So we know about you. We need to change the team. We want you in our team. We need to get you.' And I’m like, "yeah, but I'm playing in CSKA Sofia. I mean, I like it there".
'He said, 'we will figure that out. Don't worry about it.' And the guys were sitting there and I’m just like this, you know, intimidated, of course. So maybe two, three hours sitting there, and in the end, the guy let me call my dad.'
Berbatov said the gangsters eventually let him leave and return home. 'I'm like, "what the f**k? They're going to kidnap me here and I don't want to go, I want to go home". And he’s like, "OK, OK. Let me see what I can do. I'll call the guy." So eventually someone calls someone, and the big bosses of the two teams figure out a way of me not moving, just staying where I was.
'And in that situation, 18 years old, seeing and knowing how things were done back then in Bulgaria, I was thinking to myself, "this is it for me. Maybe they’re going to beat me, or I don't know, you know".
His kidnapping was first documented in a 2007 book but the former striker's appearance on his ex-Man United team-mate's podcast marks the first time he has told the story in detail.
Berbatov, now 44, won two Premier League titles during a successful spell at Man United
Ferdinand asks Berbatov why he has not heard about the kidnapping before, and why the Bulgarian has never told his team-mates.
'Because for you, some of the things [that happened] are going to sound unbelievable, but for me it was like nothing special happened,' Berbatov says. 'It was part of life back in the day.'
Berbatov spent three years at CSKA Sofia after joining as a 17-year-old before he moved to Bayer Leverkusen.
He made the switch to the Premier League with Tottenham in 2006 before signing for Man United for £30.75million in 2008, going on to win two league titles, the League Cup and the Club World Cup during his time at Old Trafford.
Berbatov then had spells at Fulham, Monaco, PAOK and Kerala Blasters before retiring in 2019.
