Louis-Emil Eyer

Who was Louis-Emil Eyer?

Louis-Emil Eyer was a Swiss-Bulgarian sports pedagogue and public figure regarded as the founder of the sports movement in Bulgaria.

Born in Homberg in the Canton of Berne, Eyer studied in Lausanne, Geneva and Neuchâtel and taught sport disciplines in Vevey. In 1894, Eyer and nine other Swiss pedagogues, including Georges de Regibus and Charles Champaud, were invited to Bulgaria by the Minister of Education Georgi Zhivkov to lay the foundations of sports education in the country. Eyer taught physical education in Lom, Silistra and Rousse and was the main coach of the Yunak sports associations around the country. He introduced the sports of track-and-field, boxing, weightlifting, wrestling to Bulgarian physical education.

When the Balkan Wars broke out, Eyer, despite being a foreign citizen, regarded the protection of his second homeland as his duty and enlisted in the Bulgarian Army as a volunteer. He was a commander of a company of the Macedonian-Adrianopolitan Volunteer Corps' 12th Lozengrad Battalion. For his valour, he was twice awarded a Cross for Honour and was promoted to the rank of Second Lieutenant. Following Bulgaria's defeat in the Second Balkan War, he published the French-language book Pro Bulgaria in 1913, defending the Bulgarian position.