Bulgarian football stars gathered in Sofia Monday to show their support of the capital's bid for the 2014 Winter Olympics. Led by the head of the Bulgarian Football Union (BFU) Borislav Mihailov, the players vowed to do all they can to help Sofia win.

"We have applied twice already and I'm sure third time would be lucky," said Mihailov.

The national team's captain Stilyan Petrov called upon all Bulgarians to unite and recreate the euphoric atmosphere of the iconic "American summer" of 1994. Back then Bulgaria finished fourth in the World Cup finals.

Fiorentina's Valeri Bozhinov and "Uncle" Dimitar Penev, the coach who led Bulgaria's side to its 1994 glory, also supported Bulgaria's bid for hosting the Games.

Sofia lodged its official bid for the 2014 Winter Games last June. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will select final candidate cities from Almaty (Kazakhstan), Borjomi (Georgia), Jaca (Spain), PyeongChang (Republic of Korea), Salzburg (Austria), Sochi (Russia) and Sofia (Bulgaria) this week and decide the host city at its 119th session in Guatemala 2007.

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