LOKOMOTIV PLOVDIV will hope to have a mental edge when they face Tottenham in the Europa League – thanks to two glamorous psychologists.
Katie Vandova and Lilia Stefanova have been helping the Bulgarian club adopt a more modern approach to their game for over a year.
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Katie Vandova (left) and Lilia Stefanova (right) are pioneering the use of psychology in Bulgarian football
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The pair founded their own psychology business and Katie even runs a cosmetics line
The pair joined just before Plovdiv’s first Bulgarian Cup win in its history, in May 2019, before they successfully defended their crown last season.
That put Bruno Akrapovic’s side into the Europa League qualifiers, where they dispatched Iskra Danilovgrad of Montenegro to set up a tie with Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham.
And the psychologists are one of the secret ingredients guiding the Bulgarian club to success.
Lilia, 30, holds a Masters in psychology from Sofia’s New Bulgarian University while Katie has studied both cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy and accounting.
Together they founded the KeLi Psychology Academy, even being drafted in to help the Bulgarian national team.
Both girls are well known in the Balkans, in particular Romania.
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Lilia studied cognitive science and psychology before entering the world of sportCredit: Instagram
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The glamorous psychologist regularly posts pictures from games and her holidays to her thousands of Instagram followersCredit: Instagram
In an interview with Bulgarian outlet Lupa, Lilia outlined her skills, saying: “We are psychologists and more precisely – psychotherapists, we upgrade, so to speak.
“We deal with cognitive-behavioural therapy, and Katie with scheme therapy.
“We can make them more confident, motivated and calmer. We can resolve internal conflicts, make them a team.
“Psychology works with words and psychiatry works with pills. In fact, who interviews psychologists? Nobody!
“They talk to us. Almost no one is interested in it, no one writes about psychology, no publicity is given to it.”
Katie added: “We can’t influence the physical condition of the team. We can only influence their mental state, their self-esteem, their motivation.”
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Lokomotiv Plovdiv fans are enjoying a rare bout of success ahead of Thursday’s game with SpursCredit: Getty – Contributor
The pair have been practicing psychology since 2017 and Katie even operates her own line of cosmetics.
Lilia often posts pictures from inside Plovdiv’s stadium to her Instagram account and insists she is more than capable of handling the problems of the modern footballer.
Some have expressed concern over female psychologists being able to work with men, to which she replied: “This is discrimination!
“Does this mean that all women who practice psychology, medicine and law should be removed? It should not be so.”
Katie agreed, adding: “On the contrary, we didn’t worry for a moment [about working with footballers], we were always confident. We are not in this field to worry about whether we will manage.
“We felt comfortable, on the spot, with confidence, because we have the knowledge and we are professionals.” More
