The head coach of the Bulgarian national team, Gianlorenzo Blengini, is facing his first serious personnel decisions before the start of the Volleyball Nations League. The Italian specialist must determine the final 14 players who will travel for the first tournament in Brazil, with 17 volleyball players currently training at the camp in Samokov.
Several changes occurred in the squad that played in the friendly "Silesia Cup" tournament in Poland. Setter Lyuboslav Telkiyski dropped out of the roster, while three of the team's key figures - captain Alex Grozdanov, Aleksandar Nikolov, Simeon Nikolov, as well as Rusi Zhelev - joined the team.
Expectations for middle blocker Ivaylo Damyanov to join the camp were not met. The volleyball player will continue to be absent from the national team for personal reasons and will not be available for the first week of the VNL.
Thus, currently training in Samokov are:
Setters:
Simeon Nikolov
Stoil Palev
Opposite Hitters:
Venislav Antov
Dimitar Dimitrov
Outside Hitters:
Aleksandar Nikolov
Zhasmin Velichkov
Martin Atanasov
Asparuh Asparuhov
Denislav Bardarov
Georgi Tatarov
Middle Blockers:
Alex Grozdanov
Iliya Petkov
Boris Nachev
Preslav Petkov
Libero:
Rusi Zhelev
Damyan Kolev
Dimitar Dobrev
The young talent Dimitar Peychinov also continues training with the group in Samokov. The 211-centimeter opposite hitter was urgently called up for the 'Silesia Cup' tournament in Poland to compensate for the lack of a fourth middle blocker in training, and his time with the senior team provides valuable experience to one of the most promising young players in Bulgarian volleyball.
In practice, Blengini's main question marks seem to be primarily related to the outside hitter and libero positions. If we assume that the setter duo Simeon Nikolov and Stoil Palev is certain for Brazil, as is the quartet of middle blockers led by Alex Grozdanov, then the serious competition remains among the outside hitters.
It is not out of the question for Bulgaria to travel with only one pure opposite hitter, which would free up another spot for an outside hitter or a second libero. This is one of the main dilemmas for the staff
– whether the team should have two liberos, or if Blengini should take advantage of the new VNL 2026 regulations, according to which a second libero is no longer mandatory in the 14-player squad, and add another outside hitter to the roster. The absence of a second, nominal libero can be compensated by the option for one of the outside hitters to be designated as a libero for a specific match, which would give Blengini greater flexibility in selection for upcoming games.
In any case, Blengini's final selection will also provide the first clearer signals of exactly how the Italian specialist envisions the team's structure and which players will play a leading role right from the start of the national team's challenging season.
Photo: Nikolay Varadinov
