Bulgaria
The Bulgarian team made their FIVB World Championship debut in the inaugural edition of 1952, finishing fourth (amongst eight participants), which remains their best result to date. In their 12th appearance in the global competition last year, Bulgaria ranked 12th at the World Championship in Japan.
Bulgaria’s biggest success on the world stage was at the Moscow 1980 Olympic Games, when they won the bronze medal after beating Hungary 3-2 in the third-place playoff. A year later, Bulgaria claimed gold at the 1981 European Championship as hosts of the event, when they topped the round-robin competition with a critical 3-0 win over the Soviet Union in the deciding match. As well as this success, Bulgaria also have two European Championship bronze medals, from the 1979 and 2001 editions.
Bulgaria first joined the FIVB World Grand Prix in 2013, finishing ninth in their debut season, which remains their best ranking in the competition. They made their Volleyball Nations League debut this year, after topping the inaugural Volleyball Challenger Cup in 2019. In the 2019 edition, however, Bulgaria lost its place in the VNL and they will return to contest the European League in 2020.
Elitsa Vasileva“We played very good matches at the Intercontinental Olympic Qualifier in USA. There were great moments for us but also there were some weak points in our performance. For the upcoming European Championship we have to work hard and all of our efforts will be directed to this very important European event. We will do our best and I hope we will play on a good level there.”
Outside Hitter for Bulgaria
