Over 9000 spectators in "Arena 8888" became part of the special evening, with which one of the emblematic figures of Bulgarian volleyball, Teodor Salparov, symbolically ended his remarkable career.
The testimonial match "One Career - One Legend" gathered some of the biggest names in Bulgarian and world volleyball on one court. In the show match, the World Legends defeated the Bulgarian Stars with 3:2 (10:15, 16:14, 7:15, 15:12, 15:11), with the five sets played to 15 points.
The first set went to the Bulgarian team with 15:10, with Nikolay Penchev and Tsvetan Sokolov among the most active players. The star international selection's response came after a contested second set, which ended 16:14.
The Bulgarian Stars again took the lead after a decisive 15:7 in the third set, but the spectacle reached a crucial fifth part. The World Legends took the fourth set with 15:12, in which the president of the Bulgarian Volleyball Federation, Lyubomir Ganev, also participated and performed a serve. Hristo Stoichkov also performed a serve, but with his foot.
In the tie-break, the international selection reached 15:11, and the last point in the match was scored by the legendary Italian Samuele Papi.
One of the most emotional moments of the evening was the appearance of Georgi Salparov – Teodor Salparov's son, who also took part in the match.
The star international lineup included Samuele Papi, Uroš Kovačević, Simon Tischer, Alexander Volkov, Rafael Pascual, Nikolay Pavlov, Sérgio Santos, Aleksandar Atanasijević, Ivan Miljković, Emanuele Birarelli, Dante Amaral, Srećko Lisinac, Marko Podraščanin, and many other familiar names from the big volleyball scene. Alberto Chiapparini, Alberto Giuliani, and Bulgaria's coach Gianlorenzo Blengini were courtside.
The Bulgarian team also gathered several generations of national players – Andrey Zhekov, Georgi Bratoev, Evgeni Ivanov, Hristo Tsvetanov, Boyan Yordanov, Vladimir Nikolov, Nikolay Ivanov, Viktor Yosifov, Tsvetan Sokolov, Teodor Todorov, Todor Aleksiev, Danail Milushev, Nikolay Penchev, and others. The coaches of the Bulgarian Stars were Radostin Stoychev, Aleksandar Popov, Nayden Naydenov, and Stefan Hristov.
The stands were also filled with famous faces. President Iliana Iotova, Sofia Mayor Vasil Terziev, BOC President Vesela Lecheva, Minister of Sports Encho Keryazov, and Minister of Culture Evtim Miloshev honored the spectacle. Among the guests were Hristo Stoichkov, Stiliyan Petrov, and Martin Petrov, and the current Bulgarian national volleyball team also followed the testimonial.
After the last point, Lyubomir Ganev and Hristo Stoichkov congratulated Salparov, and he himself drew attention to the connection between generations and the upcoming European Championship.
"This is respect for all these legends with whom I have played for 20 years. I wanted them to feel the atmosphere too. I hope this continuity remains between generations. We will keep our fingers crossed for our young volleyball players, I hope they will make us happy with a medal at the European Championship," said Teodor Salparov.
The evening also had a charitable cause – a large part of the proceeds from the testimonial will be donated to the "Sunny Children" foundation.
photo: Nikolay Varadinov
