Mittal takes over top Bulgarian football side

Mittal had paid around ?14 million to become the first Indian to own a top flight European side.

Indian steel magnate Pramod Mittal has taken over control of top Bulgarian football side CSKA Sofia, former owner Dimitar Bojkov said on Tuesday.

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"Negotiations for the sale of all of the shares in the club were successfully concluded on Monday," Bojkov's spokeswoman Irina Sarachinova told the BGNES news agency.

There was no official word on the value of the deal but the 'Dni' sports daily said Mittal had paid around €14 million to become the first Indian to own a top flight European side.

CSKA finished second in the Bulgarian league this year and are currently second behind city rivals Levski going into the winter break.

But they have struggled at the top European level in recent years and club officials have said they were seeking more success on the international stage.

Pramod Mittal is the younger brother of Lakshmi Mittal, the chief executive at Arcelor Mittal, the world's biggest steel producer, and runs Bulgaria's biggest steel factory, the Kremikovtsi Global Steel outside Sofia.