The Bulgaria men's national volleyball team represents the country in international competitions and friendly matches. It is controlled by the Bulgarian Volleyball Federation.
 | ||||
| Association | Bulgarian Volleyball Federation | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Confederation | CEV | |||
| Head coach | Gianlorenzo Blengini | |||
| FIVB ranking | 20 (as of 2 December 2023) | |||
| Uniforms | ||||
| ||||
| Summer Olympics | ||||
| Appearances | 8 (First in 1964) | |||
| Best result |  (1980) | |||
| World Championship | ||||
| Appearances | 19 (First in 1949) | |||
| Best result |  (1970) | |||
| World Cup | ||||
| Appearances | 4 (First in 1965) | |||
| Best result |  (2007) | |||
| European Championship | ||||
| Appearances | 28 (First in 1950) | |||
| Best result |  (1951) | |||
| www.volleyball.bg (in Bulgarian) | ||||
History edit
The team's achievements include winning the Balkan Championships in 1980, Runners-Up (1970) and Third Place (1949, 1952, 1986, 2006) at the World Championship. At the European Championships Bulgaria has one Runners-Up (1951) and four Third Place (1955, 1981, 1983, 2009) finishes. Bulgaria has also achieved Runners-Up at the 1980 Summer Olympic Games in Moscow. The team has one third place at the World Cup (2007) and five Semi-Final appearances in the World League (1994, 2004, 2006, 2012, 2013). The team's most significant recent results include earning Third Place at the 2006 World Championship, the 2007 World Cup and 2009 European Championship as well as achieving Runners-Up at the first European Games in 2015.
Bulgaria first took part in the World League in 1994. During the debut season in the tournament, the team went all the way to the semi-finals; led by players like Lubo Ganev, Dimo Tonev, Martin Stoev, etc. In the next four editions, Bulgaria took part but did not manage to surpass its prior performance by reaching fifth in 1995, eight in 1996, sixth in 1997, and seventh in 1998. Under the guidance of Milorad Kijac, the new wave of players including Teodor Salparov, Danial Mihaylov, etc. mixed well with the more experienced Evgeni Ivanov, Plamen Konstantinov, Nikolay Ivanov, Vladimir Nikolov, Hristo Tsvetanov to result in the fifth-place rank in 2003. The next year, once again under Kijac, the team played some impressive games and succeeded to tie its best performance of reaching the Semi-Finals. The team included more players from the Under-21 team that the previous year won a medal at the World Championships, such as Matey Kaziyski and Milushev. In 2005 with a new coach, Martin Stoev, the team finished as the fifth rank, followed by another tied best-ever performance of reaching the Semi-Finals in 2006, and another fifth rank in 2007. In 2011 Bulgaria qualified for first time in the Final Round after four years, they finished as the fifth rank. The 2012 Final Round was held in the newly opened Armeets Arena in Sofia, and the host reached the Semi-Finals once again.
Statistics edit
Olympic Games edit
1972 Munich — 4th place
1980 Moscow — 
Silver medal
2012 London — 4th place
- G. Bratoev, Skrimov, Dimitrov, V. Bratoev, V. Nikolov (C), Yosifov, Salparov, Todorov, Aleksiev, Penchev, N. Nikolov, Sokolov. Head coach: Naydenov
World Championship edit
1949 Czechoslovakia — 
Bronze medal- 1952 Soviet Union — Bronze medal
- 1962 Soviet Union — 4th place
1970 Bulgaria — Silver medal
1986 France — Bronze medal
2006 Japan — Bronze medal
2010 Italy — 7th place
2014 Poland — 13th place- 2018 Italy/Bulgaria — 11th place
-
2022 Poland/Slovenia — 20th place
World Cup edit
1969 East Germany — 4th place- 2007 Japan — Bronze medal
European Championship edit
- 1950 Bulgaria — 4th place
- 1951 France — Silver medal
1955 Romania — Bronze medal- 1958 Czechoslovakia — 4th place
- 1963 Romania — 4th place
1981 Bulgaria — Bronze medal- 1983 East Germany — Bronze medal
1995 Greece — 4th place
2009 Turkey — Bronze medal
2011 Austria/Czech Republic — 6th place
2013 Denmark/Poland — 4th place- 2015 Bulgaria/Italy — 4th place
- 2017 Poland — 6th place
-
2019 France/Slovenia/Belgium/Netherlands — 11th place -
2021 Poland/Czech Republic/Estonia/Finland — 11th place
World League edit
- 1994 — 4th place
1995 — 5th place- 1996 — 8th place
1997 — 6th place- 1998 Milan — 7th place
2003 Madrid — 5th place- 2004 Rome — 4th place
2005 Belgrade — 5th place- 2006 Moscow — 4th place
- 2007 Katowice — 5th place
- 2008 Rio de Janeiro — 7th place
2009 Belgrade — 10th place
2010 Córdoba — 7th place- 2011 Gdańsk — 5th place
- 2012 Sofia — 4th place
- 2013 Mar del Plata — 4th place
- 2014 Florence — 8th place
- 2015 Rio de Janeiro — 10th place
- 2016 Kraków — 11th place
- 2017 Curitiba — 9th place
Nations League edit
- 2018 Lille — 11th place
2019 Chicago — 12th place- 2021 Rimini — 15th place
- 2022 Bologna — 14th place
- 2023 Gdańsk — 15th place
European Games edit
2015 Baku — Silver medal
Universiade edit
- 1961 Sofia — Silver medal
- 1977 Sofia —
Gold medal
Team edit
Current squad edit
The following is the Bulgaria roster in the 2022 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship.[1][2]
Head coach: 
Plamen Konstantinov
| No. | Name | Position | Date of birth | Height | Weight | Spike | Block | 2022–23 club |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Denis Karyagin | OH | 28 September 2002 | 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) | 99 kg (218 lb) | 355 cm (140 in) | 340 cm (130 in) |  Spacer's Toulouse Volley
|
| 2 | Stefan Chavdarov | MB | 26 July 1995 | 2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) | 98 kg (216 lb) | 348 cm (137 in) | 335 cm (132 in) | Deya Volley
|
| 3 | Nikolay Kolev | MB | 16 December 1997 | 2.04 m (6 ft 8 in) | 86 kg (190 lb) | 355 cm (140 in) | 340 cm (130 in) | Narbonne Volley
|
| 4 | Martin Atanasov | OH | 27 September 1996 | 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) | 80 kg (180 lb) | 358 cm (141 in) | 335 cm (132 in) |  Lokomotiv Novosibirsk
|
| 8 | Asparuh Asparuhov | OH | 28 July 2000 | 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) | 88 kg (194 lb) | 353 cm (139 in) | 335 cm (132 in) |  Kioene Padova
|
| 9 | Georgi Seganov | S | 10 June 1993 | 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) | 83 kg (183 lb) | 340 cm (130 in) | 325 cm (128 in) |  GKS Katowice
|
| 11 | Aleks Grozdanov | MB | 28 March 1998 | 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) | 90 kg (200 lb) | 357 cm (141 in) | 334 cm (131 in) | WithU Verona Volley
|
| 14 | Martin Bozhilov | L | 11 April 1988 | 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) | 82 kg (181 lb) | 320 cm (130 in) | 305 cm (120 in) | CSKA Sofia
|
| 17 | Nikolay Penchev | OH | 22 May 1992 | 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) | 90 kg (200 lb) | 345 cm (136 in) | 337 cm (133 in) |  Epicentr-Podolyany
|
| 19 | Tsvetan Sokolov | OP | 31 December 1989 | 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) | 110 kg (240 lb) | 365 cm (144 in) | 350 cm (140 in) | Dynamo Moscow
|
| 21 | Simeon Dobrev | L | 15 April 2001 | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) | 66 kg (146 lb) | 305 cm (120 in) | 295 cm (116 in) | Neftochimic Burgas
|
| 22 | Simeon Nikolov | S | 24 November 2006 | 2.04 m (6 ft 8 in) | 92 kg (203 lb) | 365 cm (144 in) | 340 cm (130 in) | Levski Sofia
|
| 23 | Aleksandar Nikolov | OH | 30 November 2003 | 2.07 m (6 ft 9 in) | 100 kg (220 lb) | 353 cm (139 in) | 340 cm (130 in) | Cucine Lube Civitanova
|
| 24 | Ilia Petkov | MB | 10 October 1996 | 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) | 88 kg (194 lb) | 350 cm (140 in) | 337 cm (133 in) | Hebar Pazardzhik
|
Head coaches edit
|
Kit providers edit
The table below shows the history of kit providers for the Bulgaria national volleyball team.
| Period | Kit provider |
|---|---|
| 2002–2019 | Asics |
| 2019– | Erreà |
Sponsorship edit
The main sponsor of the national team is the Bulgarian betting company efbet, while Asics, Mikasa and Lidl are secondary sponsors.[3]
See also edit
- Bulgaria men's team
- Bulgaria men's U19 team
- Bulgaria men's U21 team
- Bulgaria men's U23 team
- Bulgaria women's team
References edit
- ^ "Daily bulletin Poland" (PDF). Retrieved 8 September 2023.
- ^ "Team Bulgaria". en.volleyballworld.com. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
- ^ "Българска Федерация Волейбол". bvf.bg. Retrieved 8 September 2023.