The Bulgaria men's national volleyball team represents the country in international competitions and friendly matches. The national team is controlled by the Bulgarian Volleyball Federation, the governing body for volleyball in Bulgaria.
History The team's achievements include winning the Balkan Championships in 1980, Runners-Up (1970, 2025), 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 a silver medal at the 2025 World Championship, 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, and Martin Stoev. 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 in tying 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 in fifth place, followed by another tied best-ever performance of reaching the Semi-Finals in 2006, and another fifth place in 2007. In 2011, Bulgaria qualified for the first time in the Final Round after four years, and they finished in fifth place. The 2012 Final Round was held in the newly opened Armeets Arena in Sofia, and the host reached the Semi-Finals once again.
Competition record Olympic Games Champions Runners up Third place Fourth place
Olympic Games recordYearRoundPositionSquad 1964 Round robin 5th 9 5 4 20 16 464 429 1968 Round robin 6th 9 4 5 16 17 379 385 1972 Semifinals 4th 7 4 3 15 14 386 347 1976Did not qualify 1980 Final 2nd 6 4 2 13 8 263 241 1984Withdrew 1988 Final round 6th 7 3 4 10 12 259 270 1992Did not qualify 1996 Semifinals 7th 8 4 4 15 16 379 396 2000Did not qualify 2004 2008 Quarterfinals 5th 6 3 3 11 12 527 535 2012 Semifinals 4th 8 5 3 18 10 653 636 2016Did not qualify 2020 2024 Total 0 Titles 8/16 60 32 28 118 105 3,310 3,239 —
World Championship Champions Runners up Third place Fourth place As host
World Championship recordYearRoundPositionSquad 1949 Final round 3rd 7 5 2 15 10 293 277 — 1952 Final round 3rd 8 5 3 18 12 407 337 — 1956 Final round 5th 10 6 4 24 16 538 440 — 1960Did not qualify 1962 Final round 4th 11 8 3 27 19 624 545 — 1966 Final round 7th 10 5 5 19 18 470 407 — 1970 Final round 2nd 11 10 1 32 7 547 384 — 1974 Final round 7th 11 8 3 27 13 562 402 — 1978 Final round 10th 9 5 4 17 17 410 394 — 1982 Final round 5th 9 6 3 21 14 447 393 — 1986 Final round 3rd 8 6 2 19 7 346 283 1990 Final round 5th 7 3 4 12 16 327 370 1994 Final round 9th 4 2 2 7 7 164 180 1998 Final round 7th 12 7 5 23 23 570 594 2002 Second round 13th 6 2 4 13 13 588 584 2006 Final round 3rd 11 9 2 29 14 1,008 937 2010 Final round 7th 9 5 4 21 13 809 789 2014 First round 13th 9 3 6 14 20 718 765 2018 Second round 11th 8 4 4 16 12 625 617 2022 First round 20th 3 0 3 2 9 228 262 2025 Final 2nd 7 6 1 19 8 622 544 Total 0 Titles 20/21 170 105 65 375 268 10,303 9,504 —
World Cup Champions Runners up Third place Fourth place
World Cup recordYearRoundPositionSquad 1965 Final round 9th 6 2 4 11 13 296 292 — 1969 Final round 4th 6 3 3 12 9 268 229 — 1977 Final round 6th 8 3 5 12 17 311 341 — 1981Did not qualify 1985 1989 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 Fourth round 3rd 11 9 2 29 13 988 881 2011Did not qualify 2015 2019 Total 0 Titles 4/14 31 17 14 64 52 1,863 1,743 —
European Championship Champions Runners up Third place Fourth place As host
European Championship recordYearRoundPositionSquad 1948Did not qualify 1950 Round robin 4th 5 2 3 10 10 258 269 — 1951 Final round Runners-up 8 6 2 20 9 383 256 — 1955 Final round Third place 9 5 4 20 16 446 425 — 1958 Final round 4th 11 6 5 26 18 571 475 — 1963 Final round 4th 10 7 3 25 12 477 355 — 1967 Final round 9th 10 7 3 26 11 500 387 — 1971 Final round 7th 8 7 1 23 5 380 254 — 1975 Final round 5th 7 3 4 12 13 310 321 — 1977 Final round 5th 7 4 3 14 9 304 287 — 1979 Final round 10th 7 2 5 11 19 376 397 — 1981 Final round Third place 7 4 3 15 13 337 355 — 1983 Final round Third place 7 4 3 16 10 338 286 — 1985 Final round 5th 7 3 4 12 16 300 358 — 1987 Final round 11th 7 3 4 12 13 306 302 — 1989 Final round 6th 7 4 3 16 11 350 298 — 1991 Final round 5th 7 4 3 16 11 364 335 — 1993 Final round 5th 7 4 3 15 13 350 329 — 1995 Final round 4th 7 4 3 12 11 269 282 — 1997 Group stage 9th–10th 5 2 3 8 12 219 263 — 1999 Final round 7th 5 2 3 7 9 348 361 — 2001 Final round 6th 7 4 3 16 13 645 643 2003 Preliminary round 9th 5 2 3 7 11 320 416 — 2005Did not qualify 2007 Second round 8th 6 4 2 12 11 519 500 2009 Semifinals Third place 8 6 2 18 10 663 614 2011 Quarterfinals 6th 5 3 2 12 8 466 457 2013 Semifinals 4th 7 3 4 13 16 667 679 2015 Semifinals 4th 6 4 2 15 10 553 542 2017 Quarterfinals 6th 5 3 2 9 7 385 349 2019 Round of 16 11th 6 3 3 11 10 473 494 2021 Round of 16 11th 6 3 3 11 12 495 498 2023 Round of 16 15th 6 2 4 8 14 494 533 2026 Round of 16 6 4 2 15 9 Total 0 Titles 31/33 221 124 97 448 363 12,866 12,320 —
World League Champions Runners up Third place Fourth place As host
World League recordYearRoundPositionSquad 1990Did not qualify 1991 1992 1993 1994 Semifinals 4th 16 9 7 32 24 697 653 — 1995 Final round 5th 16 11 5 34 25 799 730 — 1996 Intercontinental 8th 12 4 8 17 25 476 516 — 1997 Final round 6th 16 9 7 35 28 793 740 — 1998 Playoff round 7th 14 10 4 31 21 639 599 — 1999Did not qualify 2000 2001 2002 2003 Final round 5th 15 9 6 36 28 1,443 1,386 — 2004 Semifinals 4th 14 9 5 31 19 1,164 1,100 2005 Intercontinental 5th 12 6 6 27 22 1,112 1,067 2006 Semifinals 4th 17 13 4 42 14 1,340 1,182 2007 Final round 5th 14 9 5 31 20 1,185 1,109 2008 Intercontinental 7th 12 8 4 29 21 1,122 1,105 2009 Intercontinental 10th 12 5 7 20 26 1,048 1,084 2010 Intercontinental 7th 12 8 4 30 13 1,029 956 2011 Final round 5th 15 8 7 32 28 1,298 1,287 2012 Semifinals 4th 16 9 7 33 31 1,411 1,403 2013 Semifinals 4th 14 8 6 30 25 1,220 1,251 2014 Intercontinental 8th 12 1 11 10 35 895 1,059 2015 Final round 10th 14 9 5 30 25 1,222 1,226 2016 Intercontinental 11th 9 1 8 8 26 706 810 2017 Intercontinental 9th 9 4 5 16 22 819 861 Total 0 Titles 20/28 271 150 121 554 478 20,418 20,124 —
Nations League Nations League recordYearRoundPositionSquad 2018 Preliminary 11th 15 6 9 26 34 1,288 1,351 2019 Preliminary 12th 15 5 10 21 38 1,268 1,372 2020Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic 2021 Preliminary 15th 15 2 13 11 41 1,037 1,238 2022 Preliminary 14th 12 2 10 16 31 990 1,087 2023 Preliminary 15th 12 2 10 13 32 957 1,045 2024 Preliminary 14th 12 3 9 12 31 900 1,033 2025 Preliminary 11th 12 6 6 22 23 993 1,033 2026 Preliminary 9th 12 7 5 24 23 1,063 1,039 Total 0 Titles 8/8 105 33 72 145 253 8,496 9,198 —
European Games Champions Runners up Third place Fourth place
European Games recordYearRoundPositionSquad 2015 Finals 2nd 8 6 2 19 13 737 693
European League Champions Runners up Third place Fourth place As host
European League recordYearRoundPositionSquad 2004Did not participate 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Semifinals 4th 8 4 4 16 15 721 660 — 2017Did not participate 2018 2019 2020Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic 2021Did not participate 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 Total 0 Titles 1/22 8 4 4 16 15 721 660 —
Team
Current squad The following players made the final roster for the 2025 FIVB Men's Volleyball World Championship.
Head coach: Gianlorenzo Blengini
Captain: Aleks Grozdanov
No.NameDate of birthHeightWeightSpikeBlock2025–26 club 1 ––– Cucine Lube Civitanova 3 ––– Yuasa Battery Grottazzolina 4 ––– Vero Volley Monza 5 ––– Pallavolo Padova 8 ––– Ślepsk Suwałki 11 ––– LUK Lublin 12 ––– Yuasa Battery Grottazzolina 15 ––– Pallavolo Macerata 18 ––– Tourcoing Lille 20 ––– Levski Sofia 21 Dimitar Dobrev––– Levski Sofia 22 ––– Levski Sofia 23 Aleksandar Nikolov––– Cucine Lube Civitanova 29 ––– Folgore Massa
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 Kyuchukov 1991–1992 – Georgi Vasilev 1992–1994 – Stoyan Stoev 1994–1994 – Brunko Iliev 1994–1996 – Bogdan Kyuchukov 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.
PeriodKit provider2002–2019Asics2019–2025Erreà2025–Zeus
Sponsorship The main sponsor of the national team is the Bulgarian betting company efbet, while Mikasa and Lidl are secondary sponsors.
See also Bulgaria men's U19 team Bulgaria men's U21 team Bulgaria men's U23 team Bulgaria women's team
References
External links Official website FIVB profile