🇧🇬 EUROPEAN ARMENIAN GAMES (EAG) – 25TH Games ~ SOFIA : BULGARIA

Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) Sofia will host the 25th Euro Armenian Games from April 18th to 21st, 2025 in Sofia, Bulgaria!

600+ participants / 30 delegations / 8 sports / 168 medals!

The main motos for these yearly games are to connect diaspora, preserve culture and create friendships

Joining the LONDON team again, im excited to be part of that awesome group of legends 🥳

We stayed at the 5 star Marinela Hotel outside of the city centre, it was a lovely hotel with its own garden park and restaurants within the vicinity

My room was so comfortable with everything I needed… coffee machine! Needed for those early starts!

Also had a fantastic view over Sofia city – could even see the Cathedral from my room

There was a beautiful park in the complex where you could walk around and relax

There were peacocks that seemed to live in the park and hung around the guest areas without a care

Chasing the ladies again! Look at that bird perving 🤣

This white peacock always tried chasing the girls around! Was beautiful to see!

The fantastic Sofia delegation team ready at reception for us all.. they worked hard to put this all together and did a great job

Attended the delegation meeting to make sure I was organised the refereeing portion of it and knew what was happening

… and also to meet the right people in the committee

DAY 1 – 19 APR 25

The following day was the first day of the games, it was busy around the hotel, energy buzzing, people hugging, stretching, laughing, talking…

Had a healthy breakfast of salad, toast and a heck load of coffee!

Referee bag ready, Breakfast on the first day was at 7-7:30 as I had to get on the first 8am bus to the stadium for my 9am game

Fruit was plentiful and fresh and perfect for a full day of refereeing!

My basketball jacket got to come out and play in Sofia! Made by my aunt, all my past referee uniforms and basketball uniforms from all over Europe and “patchwork quilted” together to make a jacket

Day 1 the buses were ready by 8am to take us to the stadium

We were lead by security all the way to the stadium

The one and only Sebouh! The games would not be what they are without this amazing man being key to the organisation of each of the games 😀

There was a lot of energy on the buses… people were talking, singing and chattering even though im sure no one had enough sleep the night before!

People were really into the sports and there were also many spectators from Europe

Only a 15-20min drive to the stadium from our hotel

National Sports Academy of Vasil Levski

All sports were held at the sports complex but in different areasL

Lunch was served at Pizza Pronto cafe nearby in the stadium

We had to find our way to the basketball court via very soviet looking interiors

No idea what any of this means 😆 just follow the bouncing balls!

Not bad looking! 🏀 Finally found the court!

Awesome basketballers from all over Europe, appreciated refereeing them all and glad to be part of this awesome experience 😀🏀

The French teams

The athletes after marching around the stadium

We had armenian dancers as well during the ceremony

The small portion of the London team who marched

LET THE GAMES BEGIN!

Cant get enough of the basketball court… one of my happy places…

All games were awesome!
Run 15min halves – back 2 back games – loved every second of it!

The Paris guys warming up and shooting around

I refereed practically every game but a couple… there were 2 other Bulgarian referees, they couldn’t speak English so we couldn’t communicate well & on the last day, they had brought only 1 whistle which they had to share (!?) meaning that I had to referee every game if there were to be 2 referees – I didn’t mind because the players were so awesome to referee and they understood what was going on and supported me throughout

The womens teams from Paris & Geneva… only 2 teams 😔 we need more women playing for next year!

Football and basketball were the 2 main sports of the games

THE DINNER & DISCO

The first night dinner and dance was seriously A LOT of fun!

Held in the hotel where we all stayed, so was easy to get to without a thought…

Everyone was dancing as soon as the music started!

These Europeans know how to party!

Artur Nadosyan & Sandra were entertaining

Shoorj bar galore! and with more than enough toes stamped on by others high heels 🤣 I know, it happened to me! lol

DAY 2 – 20 APR 25

Itinerary for day 2 thankfully started a little later

Started off as an overcast day with fog covering the whole city centre of Sofia

Day 2 breakfast – halva!!!! I made sure to get some sugar hit in me as I knew I wouldn’t have time for lunch like day 1

The day started a little later which was good as last nights dancing went until early morning, but majority behaved as they were serious about the next day games

And back to the stadium for semi finals / finals and grand finals

ZAD & Paris teams warming up for their game

There was so much passion in the men playing, loved the games! and fun to referee

The old school scoring system… everyone was giving their 2cents worth and keeping track of the score… hot blooded Armenians 🤣

Football – The London boys have a time out

We watched some good quality football games

📣 Shout out to all the European women out there who want to play next year! 📣

The support crew and friends of ZAD! Plus a random referee who crashed the photo 🤓🤣 great bunch of people

After all the games, went back to the hotel and had to just sit and chill and stretch for a bit in the hotel garden… My feet and ankles were aching but I was happy 🙂

GALA DINNER

After an eventful 2 days full of basketball and scoreboard and clock issues… I was glad to be in my heels and dancing and chatting to new found (and old) friends!

The Gala Dinner was all about the medals and winners and dancing the night away without worrying about an early start the next day