Mladenov went back to his great football love in one of the hardest moments. At that time CSKA did not made it even to the European cups. In 1994 Ilia Pavlov was the boss of CSKA. At that time the team had the biggest loss from Levski – 1:7 .The coachof Levski was Georgi Vasilev. Ilia Pavlov chose him to be the coach of CSKA after his successful season in Cyprus..
„I had lived for a long time in Portugal when Pavlov phoned me – tells Mladenov – my relation to CSKA has not changed and I could not reject the offer. Being an assistant to Georgi Dimitorv would help me a lot in my coaching career. He is a great man . His results speak for themselves. He has been a champion with three teams – CSKA, Levski and Etar. He made it to the final of the Cup of Germany with Unio, which played in the third division.
My first training was in the cold day of 5 January. I saw something which I could hardly accept. The team of CSKA lacked confidence and the army spirit. We had to return that winning feeling. Many of the fans did not like Vasilev as he had coached the main rivals of Levski. We gathered good players – Adalbert Zafirov and Filip Filipov who deeply loved CSKA. Our team aim has always been the championship title, but it was impossible to be attained in the first season ..“
Vasilev and Mladenov started with three consecutive losses from Levski. But CSKA was the team to stop the blue team in getting the title, winning against them 1:0 at the end of the season. CSKA did not make it to the European tournaments and had to play in Intertoto .It was part of the strategy of Vasilev to make a winning team. CSKA started with a loss against Neftohimik in the new season , but it was the only one in the road to the title and cup of Bulgaria. CSKA won a golden double. .
„The competition in the team was very strong –tells Mladneov. –But CSKA was much stronger than the others. We had a team which played with their heart and won easily against our opponents. The experience in this year and a half was one of the worhiest in my career .“
Two of the greatest stars in the new century came to CSKA during the period of Mladenov and Vasilev.
„I will never forget how Tsvetan Ionchev took Martin Petrov to our stadium and how he told us that this is the new Hristo Stoichkov . –In the Cup of Bulgaria we played against Montana and for them was playing Stilian Petrov. These two wonderful boys came for the first training in 1997 . Georegi Vasilev was the man who chose them and showed them the way.“