The "Volleyball at School" program started the new school year in an unusual way – with a tournament on the official court of EuroVolley 2026 at "Arena 8888" in Sofia.
Students from 135th Secondary School "Jan Amos Komenski", 12th Secondary School "Tsar Ivan Asen II", 109th Primary School "Hristo Smirnenski" and 119th Secondary School "Acad. Mihail Arnaudov" had the opportunity to play where the matches of the Men's European Championship are held.
The organizers made sure the experience was as close as possible to that of the championship participants. The children entered the court through the official arch, with a light show and according to the protocol used before the EuroVolley 2026 matches.
The teams were mixed – with girls and boys, and children from family-type accommodation centers for disadvantaged children and youth – "Lyuben Karavelov", "Ivan Vazov", "Detelina", "Sofroniy Vrachanski" and "Paisiy Hilendarski" also joined the tournament.
The initiative was held with the support of Allianz Bulgaria and Sofia Municipality.
Among the guests at "Arena 8888" were the national teams coordinator Nikolay Ivanov, the administrative director of the Bulgarian Volleyball Federation Stanislav Nikolov, the chief operating officer of Allianz Bulgaria Andrey Alexandrov, and the deputy mayor of Sofia Municipality for "Education, Sports and Youth Activities" Desislava Zhelyazkova.
At the end of the tournament, all participants received honorary medals for their participation.

The event at "Arena 8888" marked the beginning of the new season of "Volleyball at School" – a program of the Bulgarian Volleyball Federation aimed at attracting more children to the sport.
This time, however, the children were not just spectators of big volleyball. For one day, they had the opportunity to be part of the European Championship and play on the same court where the national teams compete.

photos:bfv.bg