Bulgarian Viden Natsev will be among the leading figures in the French national team, which will arrive in our country for three friendly matches with Bulgaria U20.
The French are expected to arrive on August 6, and the matches against the Bulgarian team led by Ventsislav Simeonov will most likely take place on August 7, 8, and 9. The guests will depart on August 10.
Viden Natsev is a CSKA youth player, but after disagreements with the Bulgarian Volleyball Federation, he chose to represent France. The outside hitter, born in 2008, already won the European title with the French U18 national team in 2024.
In the championship final in Sofia, France defeated Italy 3:0 (25:15, 25:20, 25:21). Manuel Zlatanov, grandson of Bulgarian volleyball legend Dimitar Zlatanov and son of former Italian international Hristo Zlatanov, was then part of the 'Azzurri' squad.
The French team arriving in Bulgaria is expected to be composed mainly of players born in 2008 and 2009. The matches in our country will be part of France's preparation for the Western European Volleyball Zonal Association (WEVZA) tournament in Frankfurt, which represents the first stage of European qualifications for participating teams, including the French national team.
Bulgaria U20, for its part, is preparing for the European qualifiers, which will take place in Sofia at the end of August. The information about the upcoming friendly matches with France has been confirmed to VolleyWeek by head coach Ventsislav Simeonov.
After the conclusion of the U18 European Championship in Italy, the U20 squad must also be supplemented with some of the bronze medalists from Porto San Giorgio.
Certainly among those called up is setter and captain of Bulgaria U18 Nikola Velikov, who has already spoken with Ventsislav Simeonov. Nikola Gradinarov, Adrian Ganev, Pavel Dzenev, Antoan Veselinov, and Ivaylo Donov, who were also part of Bulgaria's bronze-winning squad from the U18 European Championship, are expected to join the preparation.

Thus, the friendly matches will offer an intriguing clash between Bulgaria and France, in whose squad one of the main figures will be Viden Natsev, who grew up in the CSKA academy. Even more interesting is that he will face some of his former CSKA teammates.
The official rosters and times for the three matches are yet to be announced.

photos: Nikolay Varadinov