Bulgaria men's national volleyball team

Bulgaria
AssociationBulgarian Volleyball Federation
ConfederationCEV
Head coachGianlorenzo Blengini
FIVB ranking19 (as of 8 January 2025)
Uniforms
Home
Away
Third
Summer Olympics
Appearances8 (First in 1964)
Best result (1980)
World Championship
Appearances20 (First in 1949)
Best result (1970)
World Cup
Appearances4 (First in 1965)
Best result (2007)
European Championship
Appearances28 (First in 1950)
Best result (1951)
www.volleyball.bg (in Bulgarian)
Honours
Medal record
Olympic Games
1980 Moscow Team
World Championship
1970 Bulgaria
1949 Czechoslovakia
1952 Soviet Union
1986 France
2006 Japan
World Cup
2007 Japan
European Championship
1951 Paris
1955 Bucharest
1981 Varna
1983 East Berlin
2009 Turkey
European Games
2015 Baku Team

The Bulgaria men's national volleyball team represents the country in international competitions and friendly matches. It is controlled by the Bulgarian Volleyball Federation.

History

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

Olympic Games

World Championship

World Cup

European Championship

World League

Nations League

European Games

Universiade

Team

Current squad

Roster for the 2025 FIVB Men's Volleyball Nations League.[1]

Head coach: Gianlorenzo Blengini

Head coaches

  • 1949–1950 – Valentin Ankov
  • 1951–1952 – Dimitar Elenkov
  • 1952–1955 – Georgi Krastev
  • 1957–1958 – Dimitar Elenkov
  • 1964–1971 – Dimitar Gigov
  • 1971–1972 – Todor Simov
  • 1979–1980 – Todor Piperkov
  • 1980–1982 – Tsvetan Pavlov
  • 1982–1983 – Vasil Simov
  • 1984–1986 – Bogdan Kjuchukov
  • 1991–1992 – Georgi Vasilev
  • 1992–1994 – Stoyan Stoev
  • 1994–1994 – Brunko Iliev
  • 1994–1996 – Bogdan Kjuchukov
  • 1996–1997 – Stefan Sokolov
  • 1998–1999 – Georgi Vasilev
  • 1999–2000 – Brunko Iliev
  • 2000–2002 – Hristo Iliev
  • 2002–2003 – Assen Galabinov
  • 2003–2004 – Milorad Kijac
  • 2004–2005 – Brunko Iliev
  • 2005–2008 – Martin Stoev
  • 2009–2010 – Silvano Prandi
  • 2010–2012 – Radostin Stoychev
  • 2012–2012 – Nayden Naydenov
  • 2012–2014 – Camillo Placì
  • 2014–2019 – Plamen Konstantinov
  • 2019–2022 – Silvano Prandi
  • 2022–2023 – Nikolay Jeliazkov
  • 2023 – Plamen Konstantinov
  • 2024–present – Gianlorenzo Blengini

Kit providers

The table below shows the history of kit providers for the Bulgaria national volleyball team.

Period Kit provider
2002–2019 Asics
2019–2025 Erreà
2025– Zeus

Sponsorship

The main sponsor of the national team is the Bulgarian betting company efbet, while Mikasa and Lidl are secondary sponsors.[2]

See also

References

  1. ^ volleyballworld.com. "Bulgaria VNL 2025". volleyballworld.com. Retrieved 27 June 2025.
  2. ^ "Българска Федерация Волейбол". bvf.bg. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
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