Bulgaria's 3:1 (27:25, 22:25, 26:24, 25:18) victory over the USA will remain in the history of the Nations League. The success of the team led by Gianlorenzo Blengini not only brought the "Lions" closer to the Final Eight but also definitively deprived Brazil of any chance to qualify for the decisive phase of the tournament. Thus, "Seleção" will miss the finals for the first time since the competition was created in 2018.
Regardless of the result in their last match against China, the Brazilians no longer have a mathematical chance to finish among the top seven teams in the preliminary phase. The historic failure became a fact immediately after Bulgaria's success in Chicago, which completely changed the battle for the last spots in the Final Eight.
For Brazil, this is an unprecedented failure. Until now, "Seleção" invariably reached the final phase of the Nations League. In the inaugural edition in 2018, the Brazilians finished fourth, and did the same in 2019. In 2021, they triumphed with the title, and in 2022, 2023, and 2024, they were eliminated in the quarterfinals. In 2025, they were again on the podium, after winning the bronze medals. Their streak of seven consecutive appearances in the final phase ended precisely after the Bulgarian victory over the USA.
The match itself in Chicago offered a dramatic battle. Bulgaria won the first set 27:25 after an ace by Iliya Petkov, the hosts equalized after 25:22, but the "Lions" took the lead again after 26:24 in the third set. In the fourth set, the national team asserted their superiority and closed the match at 25:18.
The top scorer for Bulgaria was Aleksandar Nikolov with an impressive 32 points, and Iliya Petkov played a key role in the decisive moments of the match with both his serve and his block.
After the penultimate round, Poland, Slovenia, and Italy secured their spots in the Final Eight and joined hosts China, Japan, and the USA. For the last two quotas, only Bulgaria, Turkey, and Ukraine continue to contend, while Brazil and Serbia were definitively eliminated from the battle.