Seven Bulgarian national players are among the total of 46 volleyball players from Italian Serie A clubs participating in EuroVolley 2026. This is according to special statistics published by Lega Pallavolo Serie A – the organization that administers professional men's championships in Italy.
The Italian league conducted a kind of census of its representatives at the European Championship. A total of 34 foreign volleyball players from clubs in the Serie A system are in their national teams' rosters, and to them are added 12 Italian national players. Thus, the total number reaches 46.
The Bulgarian presence is particularly impressive. Seven of the 34 foreigners in Lega Pallavolo's statistics are Bulgarian national players. What's more – our country is No. 1 in this indicator, ahead of France and Belgium, which each have five representatives.
| Country | Number | Volleyball Players |
|---|---|---|
| Bulgaria | 7 | Simeon Nikolov, Iliya Petkov, Zhasmin Velichkov, Georgi Tatarov, Rusi Zhelev, Stoil Palev, Aleksandar Nikolov |
| France | 5 | Amir Tizi-Oualou, Mathis Henno, Théo Faure, Daniel Ijegbekedo, Noah Duflo-Rossi |
| Belgium | 5 | Ferre Reggers, Simon Plaskie, Wout D'Heer, Seppe Rotty, Basil Dermaux |
| Slovenia | 3 | Rok Možič, Nik Mujanović, Klemen Šen |
| Ukraine | 2 | Oleh Plotnytskyi, Maksym Tonkonoh |
| Slovakia | 2 | Patrik Lamanec, Julius Firkal |
| Serbia | 2 | Aleksandar Nedeljković, Miran Kujundžić |
| Czech Republic | 1 | Antonín Klimeš |
| Greece | 1 | Stavros Mouhlias |
| Sweden | 1 | Johan Gruveus |
| Poland | 1 | Kamil Semeniuk |
| Netherlands | 1 | Sil Meijs |
| Germany | 1 | Simon Valentin Thörvi |
| Latvia | 1 | Renārs Pauls Jansons |
| Turkey | 1 | Efe Bayram |
The numbers show how serious the Bulgarian presence is in Italian club volleyball. The seven national team players represent 20.6% of all 34 foreign players in Lega Pallavolo's statistics. Or, in other words, more than one in five foreigners from Italian clubs at EuroVolley 2026 wear the Bulgarian jersey. The seven are Simeon Nikolov and Aleksandar Nikolov from Cucine Lube Civitanova, Iliya Petkov and Zhasmin Velichkov from Vero Volley Monza, Georgi Tatarov from Allianz Milano, Rusi Zhelev from Conad Reggio Emilia in Serie A2, and Stoil Palev from Essens Hotels Fano, also in Serie A2. Lega Pallavolo also pays special attention to the performance of its Bulgarian representatives in the very first match of EuroVolley. Bulgaria started the tournament in Sofia with a convincing 3:0 (25:17, 25:19, 25:18) victory over North Macedonia, and two of the future teammates at Lube were among the most notable figures in "Arena 8888". Aleksandar Nikolov finished the match with 19 points, and Simeon Nikolov had a huge impact from the serve with 7 aces. Middle blocker Iliya Petkov also contributed 7 points. Thus, Bulgaria's very first evening at EuroVolley provided a clear example of why the Italian league pays such serious attention to the Bulgarian presence. And Lega Pallavolo's statistics emphasize even more strongly – no other foreign national selection at the championship has as many representatives from Italian Serie A clubs as Bulgaria.
