Plamen Konstantinov expects a significant change in the international volleyball calendar and the holding of major national team championships in December, in the middle of the club season. The head coach of Lokomotiv (Novosibirsk) commented on the topic during the club's press conference before the start of the new season.
The Bulgarian specialist explained that FIVB is discussing the calendar until 2032 and, in his opinion, the international federation will ultimately succeed in pushing through the idea despite resistance against it.
"I believe that FIVB will achieve its goal and we will have World and European Championships in the middle of the season, in December," Konstantinov stated.
He paid special attention to the position of the Italian clubs and league, which, according to him, are among the main opponents of such a change. The reason, according to Konstantinov, is economic – reducing the number of club matches would affect sponsor interest and revenue.
"This will kill the calendar. There will be fewer opportunities to hold matches. For such championships, this is very important. There are many sponsors there. Sponsors are interested in how many matches there will be, how many will be shown on television, how much their advertising will be seen. If there are fewer, the funding will also be less," explained the Bulgarian coach.
Nevertheless, Konstantinov believes that FIVB will succeed in its intentions. According to him, one of the reasons for the desired change is the desire for international volleyball to increase its revenues and find a better place in the television calendar.
"All this is related to finances. They believe that this way they will sell TV rights and advertising better and will not overlap with other team sports in September. There will be a separate volleyball December," Konstantinov said.
According to the Bulgarian specialist, volleyball indeed needs to seek ways to increase its revenues. As an example, he pointed to the Champions League.
"We are lagging behind in financial parameters. There's no need to talk about football, or basketball. And in volleyball, clubs play in the Champions League and earn nothing. Zero. They are at a loss. Something needs to be done," Konstantinov was adamant.
However, he also sees the other side of a potential change. If international tournaments take up an increasing part of the calendar, national team players will spend more time away from their clubs.
"Practically more than half of the time we will spend in matches under the auspices of FIVB and CEV, and not in club championships. Nations League, then European and World Championships. The World Championship will be every two years and there will be some championship every year," Konstantinov pointed out.
It is precisely here that the Lokomotiv coach raised the issue of revenue distribution. According to him, if international organizations start earning more from national teams, clubs should also receive their share.
"Perhaps the international federation should consider, if it starts earning more, taking over part of the players' contracts or having something for the local federations as well, and not everything remaining centralized. If more money is earned, the distribution should be a little different," the Bulgarian specialist stated.
Konstantinov justified his position with the fact that clubs pay the main salaries of the players, while with the expansion of the international calendar, they will spend more and more time with their national teams.
"You release the players, they spend more time with their national team and less with the club. It turns out that international structures earn what they can from the TV rights of national teams, and then the bill, generally speaking, comes to the clubs. All contracts and money for the players come from the clubs," Konstantinov said.
The Bulgarian coach also made a comparison with other major team sports to emphasize how serious, in his opinion, is the difference in financial scales.
Therefore, Konstantinov does not reject the idea of changing the international calendar. His position is that if the new model allows volleyball to generate more revenue, the benefits should not remain solely for international structures.
"If this changes the financial parameters and everyone starts earning more – good. But let there be an impact on clubs and players as well, and not just on international organizations," Plamen Konstantinov summarized.