Bulgaria's most bizarre court battle has ended in victory for a construction worker who has won the right to change his name to Manchester United.
Three years of fighting through courts has ended in success for the man Bulgaria has ruled can call himself Manchester Zdravkov Levichov-United.
"I've always been a Manchester United fan, and I wanted to change my name to Manchester United since I was a schoolboy, but under Communism it was not possible," football-mad Mr United (39) told The Irish Times.
Under Communism the idea was impossible, the more so since Manchester United were a capitalist team from the wrong side of the Iron Curtain.
And even under democracy, Bulgaria's system remained so slow and corrupt that Mr United gave up on the idea. But when his team won the European Champion's League Cup in 1999, he decided that he had to make the move.
"The moment had come. I could put it off no longer," he said. "By doing this I wanted to show my love and gratitude to the team. So I started the action, I started the process."
Eyebrows were raised in officialdom, and he was denied several times, with the court in his pretty home town of Svishtov on the Danube ruling against him in November that year and again in March 2000.
Friends and family urged him to give up, saying that they would call him Manchester United even if the state refused to do so.
But Mr United had other ideas. His bedroom is a shrine to his team with posters and flags, and he has named his cat Beckham.
With a persistence that Alex Ferguson would admire, he battled on, arguing that a law on renaming, which allows the process in the event of a "special occasion", applied to him.
The case has drained Mr United of his savings, ironically scuppering plans he had to fly to Manchester and watch his beloved team live for the first time.
He wrote to the club earlier this year hoping to score a free ticket for his persistence, but got a letter back saying only that it welcomed his support.
Then in June, riding his bicycle home from watching England lose to Brazil in the World Cup, he was hit by a car, lost four teeth and was presented with a medical bill to soak up the last of his savings.
But he remains upbeat. "The team will do well this year. Buying Rio Ferdinand was the best thing they could do. It will mean they get to first position in Europe," he said.