Bulgaria men's national volleyball team

Infobox national volleyball team
name=Bulgaria

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federation=Bulgarian Volleyball Federation
website= [http://www.volleyball.bg/ www.volleyball.bg] bg icon en icon
confederation=CEV
manager=
coach=vacant
FIVB rank=4
rank date=2008-08-25
Olympic apps=6

The Bulgaria men's national volleyball team, controlled by the Bulgarian Volleyball Federation, is one of the leading volleyball teams in Europe and the world.

Its achievements include one silver medal from the World Championship (1970) and four bronze medals (1949, 1952, 1986, 2006), as well as one fourth place (1962). From the European Championship, Bulgaria has won one second place (1951) and three third (1955, 1981 and 1983) and four fourth places (1948, 1963, 1967 and 1995). Bulgaria has also won a silver medal from the 1980 Summer Olympic Games in Moscow, and has a fourth place from the 1972 Olympics in Munich. The team's World Cup has won one bronze medal (2007) and one fourth place in 1969. Other achievements are the three World League fourth places (1994, 2004 and 2006).

The team's most relevant recent results were winning third place in both the 2006 Volleyball World Championship and the 2007 World Cup.

Results

=Olympic Games=

*1964 — 5th place
*1968 — 6th place
*1972 — 4th place
*1976 — did not qualify
*1980 — 2nd place
*1984 — did not compete
*1988 — 6th place
*1992 — did not qualify
*1996 — 7th place
*2000 — did not qualify
*2004 — did not qualify
*2008 — 5th place

=World Championship=

*1949 — 3rd place
*1952 — 3rd place
*1956 — 5th place
*1960 — did not compete
*1962 — 4th place
*1966 — 7th place
*1970 — 2nd place
*1974 — 7th place
*1978 — 10th place
*1982 — 5th place
*1986 — 3rd place
*1990 — 5th place
*1994 — 9th place
*1998 — 7th place
*2002 — 16th place
*2006 — 3rd place

=European Championship=

*1999 — 7th place
*2001 — 6th place
*2003 — 9th place (tied)
*2005 — did not qualify
*2007 — 8th place

Bulgaria in the World League

Bulgaria was first invited to take part in the World League in 1994. In its debut season in the tournament the team managed to finish fourth led by players like Luboslav Ganev, Dimo Tonev, Martin Stoev, etc. In the next four editions Bulgaria took part but did not manage to tie or beat its first season performance- it came fifth in 1995, eight in 1996, sixth in 1997, and seventh in 1998. Bulgaria was then excluded from the World League until the 2003 season. It has been a constant participant ever since and among the contestants for the final phase of the tournament. Under the guidance of Milorad Kijac the new wave of players including Teodor Salparov, Danail Mihaylov, etc. mixed well with the more experienced Evgeni Ivanov, Plamen Konstantinov, Nikolay Ivanov, Vladimir Nikolov, Hristo Tsvetanov to come fifth in 2003. The next year once again under Kijac the team played some impressive games and succeeded to tie its best performance of finishing fourth. The team included more players of the Under-21 team that the previous year managed to win a medal at the World Championships such as Matey Kaziyski and Milushev. In 2005 with a new coach, Martin Stoev, the team finished fifth, followed by another tied best-ever performance- fourth in 2006, and another fifth in 2007.

Team (2008 World Cup)

Head coach: Martin Stoev

Recent team members

References