Edu lays out ambitious Levski Sofia plans after leaving Forest

The Brazilian, who spoke at the press conference after Levski’s general shareholders’ meeting, arrives on a five-person board that also includes Claudio Pracownik, Felipe Berliner, Matthew Cherry and executive director Daniel Borimirov.

It is a long way from the Premier League. Edu returned to Arsenal in 2019 as technical director, became their first sporting director in 2022 before resigning in November 2024. He then joined Nottingham Forest in July 2025 as global head of football under Evangelos Marinakis, a spell described as difficult, with poor recruitment and a fall-out with Nuno Espírito Santo. His contract was terminated earlier this month.

Levski, who are champions of Bulgaria but drop into the Europa League after losing a Champions League play-off to AEK Athens, said his experience in strategy, selection, talent development and building organisations would be an important asset.

“I want to thank you for the opportunity to be here on the board of directors and alongside the legends of this club. Also next to Claudio, who is a good friend of mine from Brazil. I will do my best to support this process. In my life I have got used to making good decisions.

"At the beginning I started getting to know the people in this project. Everything started with getting to know who is involved in this project. I don’t know if you knew, but I spent a long time here to understand you, the club, the press. After that I started working with you. Then they invited me to be a member of the board.

"When they invited me, I said to myself: ‘Why not?’. I am sure that I can contribute to this project. For me this is a new country, new friends, a new owner. That makes me excited. That is why I am here. I am very excited to be part of this project,” he said.

He said the focus would be supporting coach Velasquez and the football community.

“If we have the opportunity to be close with Georgi, with the coach and with the football community, I will help them. I believe there is a step forward. We have just become champions and we play in the Europa League. We are not starting from zero. We are doing well, but we have to take the best possible steps to develop further.

"None of us is a magician, but we will be resilient and support each other. On my first visit one of the things I said to Atanas Bostandzhiev is that Levski have a very good coach. After that I had the chance to speak with Velasquez. They allowed me to discuss his ideas and what he needs. We have to be here to support him as much as possible. I am trying to bring players for his system. From there we will see how we can develop an even better team. We have the right person to lead us there.”