Former Bulgaria coach Camillo Placi led Tunisia to the African title and qualified the team for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
In the final of the African Championship in Tunisia, the hosts left no chances for Cameroon and won convincingly 3:0 (25:22, 25:18, 25:19). Thus, Tunisia became continental champions for the 12th time in their history.
The success has even greater value because the title brings Tunisia the direct African quota for the Los Angeles Olympics. Under the new qualification system, the best-ranked team from each of the five continental championships in 2026 gets a spot in the Olympic tournament.
For Placi, this will be his third Olympics in his coaching career. The first was Beijing 2008, when the Italian specialist was part of Vladimir Alekno's staff in the Russian national team, which won the bronze medals.
Four years later came the big Bulgarian connection. At the London Olympics in 2012, Placi was an assistant to Nayden Naydenov in the Bulgarian national team, which reached the semifinals and finished in fourth place.
Now, 16 years after Beijing and 14 years after London, Placi himself led Tunisia to an Olympic quota and will return to the biggest sporting stage in 2028.
Tunisia went through the entire African Championship undefeated. In the semi-final, Placi's team defeated Morocco 3:1, and against Cameroon, they closed the tournament in the most emphatic way – three sets, the African title, and a ticket to Los Angeles.

The triumph also continues Tunisia's strong period under the leadership of the former Bulgarian coach. In 2025, the Africans finished 12th at the World Championship in the Philippines – the country's best ranking in the history of the tournament. Now Placi has added the African title and the most important prize with it – a spot at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.

photos: Nikolay Varadinov