The Bulgarian men's national team U20 starts today its participation in the first qualification round for EuroVolley 2027. Ventsislav Simeonov's proteges will face North Macedonia at 5:30 PM in the 'Hristo Botev' hall in the capital.
The tournament in Sofia will continue until August 29, with Serbia, Turkey, Russia, and Belarus also participating. Bulgaria will play one match on each of the five competition days.
Our national team's first opponent arrived in Sofia after a three-week preparation in Krushevo. During the first ten days, the young Macedonian volleyball players trained in parallel with the country's senior national team.
North Macedonia's coach Jovan Shape does not hide that he considers his team an underdog among the opponents in Sofia. The main task for his team is to gain experience and develop players who will reach the senior national team in the future.
"We are aware of the strength of our opponents and our position as underdogs. We are building a young national team and creating a core that will move to the senior squad in the future. Although we are not at the level of our opponents, this will not prevent us from fighting for every point," Shape stated before departing for Sofia.
The Macedonian coach pointed out the high block, strong serve, and powerful attack as the main weapons of the teams his team will face.
"We worked on playing smart, being calm, and not giving away points. We want to show on the court what we worked on, gain experience, and not allow ourselves to be easy prey," Shape added.
Ventsislav Simeonov will rely on 14 volleyball players for the tournament. The Bulgarian squad includes setters Petko Petkov and Nikola Velikov, opposites Pavel Dzheneve and Aleksandar Manushev, outside hitters Martin Tatarov, Yoan Kostadinov, Nikola Gradinarov, and Daniel Tanev, middle blockers Dimitar Peychinov, Evan Georgiev, Petar Gospodarski, and Adrian Ganev, and liberos Georgi Boychev and Ivaylo Donov.
Dimitar Peychinov's performance will be particularly interesting, as he is nominally an opposite but began retraining as a middle blocker at the insistence of the senior national team coach Gianlorenzo Blengini. Peychinov has already gone through part of the representative team's preparation in Samokov.
The stake in Sofia is a direct quota for EuroVolley U20 in 2027. For Bulgaria, the most important thing is the ranking relative to the other BVA representatives – Serbia, Turkey, and North Macedonia. The special status of Russia and Belarus means that if one of these two teams finishes first, the highest-ranked representative of the Balkan Volleyball Association will also receive a direct quota.
In the other matches of the first day, Turkey plays Belarus at 3:00 PM, and Serbia meets Russia at 8:00 PM. Bulgaria – North Macedonia will be broadcast live on MAX Sport 4 and online at YouTube.vfmkd.org.mk
photo:vfmkd.org.mk
