The Romanian national, born in Varna, was an object of concrete interest from Bulgaria as early as 2021. Five years later, VolleyWeek learned why the attempt to attract him was not successful.
Imagine a national team where Simeon Nikolov is the setter, and among the main outside hitters are Aleksandar Nikolov and Daniel Chitigoi. Such a combination could have become a reality if, five years ago, the attempt to attract one of the greatest talents in Romanian volleyball had been successful.
Born on March 10, 2005, in Varna, Chitigoi is of Bulgarian origin and, according to available information, also holds Bulgarian citizenship. His mother is the former Bulgarian national player Radostina Rangelova-Chitigoi, and his father Cristian Chitigoi is a former Romanian national player.
According to VolleyWeek's information from sources close to the family, in 2021, concrete steps were taken to attract the then 16-year-old outside hitter to the Bulgarian national team. However, the intention did not materialize due to the disagreement of one of the young volleyball player's parents.
VolleyWeek received confirmation of this previously unknown story from Vladimir Nikolov. The former captain of the national team confirmed that he had noticed Chitigoi's qualities and had initiated actions to attract him to Bulgaria. Nikolov also confirmed that the disagreement of one parent thwarted the intention.
It is curious that in 2021, Vladimir Nikolov served as the coordinator of all national teams for the Bulgarian Volleyball Federation. In this capacity, he was involved in the development of national teams, including working on building future generations of athletes. In the autumn of the same year, Nikolov announced his resignation from the post. His decision became public on October 5, 2021.
As early as September 2023, Daniel's mother publicly expressed regret that her son was not representing Bulgaria. During the European Championship, when the Romanian national team played in Varna, Dani's hometown, Radostina Rangelova-Chitigoi told BNT: "Perhaps my joy would be even greater if my son played for Bulgaria, but that is the situation." Her words gain additional meaning against the backdrop of new information about the events in 2021. At that time, a concrete opportunity already existed for Daniel to take a different path in international volleyball, but it never materialized.
The case also has its administrative peculiarity. Unlike volleyball players who must first acquire Bulgarian citizenship (like the "Keita" case, editor's note), Chitigoi is of Bulgarian origin on his mother's side. With Bulgarian citizenship, the question of attracting him was related to his sports nationality, as he had previously represented Romania in junior competitions.
The fact that such cases can be reviewed by the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) is also shown by the case of Viden Natsev. The Bulgarian by origin, who also holds French citizenship on his mother's side, continued his international career with the national teams of France after a procedure reviewed by the FIVB in 2023. Although the two cases have different legal specificities, they show that mechanisms exist for settling sports affiliation for volleyball players with dual citizenship.
Meanwhile, Daniel Chitigoi's career developed rapidly. After his first years in Romania, in 2023 he moved to the Polish ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle, and in the 2025/2026 season he played for Skra Bełchatów. In the summer of 2026, the outside hitter signed with the Japanese Suntory Sunbirds Osaka. Ironically, just ten days ago, Daniel Chitigoi faced the Nikolov brothers at a tournament in the Italian city of Jesi, where his Suntory Osaka played against Lube Civitanova.

Chitigoi was part of the Romanian national team at the World Championship in the Philippines in 2025, and a year later became one of the leading players in our northern neighbors' strong performance at EuroVolley 2026. On September 16 in Cluj-Napoca, Romania achieved one of the big surprises of the European Championship, defeating Olympic champion France 3:2 (16:25, 25:27, 25:20, 35:33, 15:12). Chitigoi was the top scorer in the match with 28 points, of which 24 were from attack, 3 from block, and 1 ace. Six days later, the two teams met again, this time in the quarterfinals in Sofia. The French won 3:0 (25:16, 25:19, 25:19), ending Romania's participation.

It is curious that the Romanians repeated the history from EuroVolley 2023, when they also defeated France in the group stage, but subsequently lost to the Olympic champions in the quarterfinals.
In an interview for the European Volleyball Confederation (CEV) on September 22, 2026, Chitigoi himself talks about the influence of his family on his development. He describes his mother as his emotional support, while his father, who is involved in coaching, passed on much of his volleyball knowledge to him in his childhood years. "But in my genes, there is certainly from both sides," the outside hitter admits.
In the same interview, Chitigoi emphasizes that his famous volleyball family has never been a burden to him. On the contrary - the history of his parents and grandfather motivated him to build his own career and achieve success with his own name.
Today, the results already speak for his development. Romania finished ninth at EuroVolley 2026, climbed to 22nd place in the world rankings, and secured participation in the 2027 World Championship in Poland. For Chitigoi, this will be an opportunity to play in a second consecutive World Cup.
If in 2021 he had no subjective obstacles to choose Bulgaria and the necessary procedures had been successfully completed, today he could have been part of the generation around which Gianlorenzo Blengini is building our national team.
Simeon Nikolov as setter, Aleksandar Nikolov and Daniel Chitigoi as outside hitters. Three young athletes with impressive physical data and parents who left their mark in volleyball.
Whether such a combination would bring even greater success to Bulgaria, no one can say. But five years after the unfulfilled attempt to attract Chitigoi, it is already clear that our country had a real opportunity to add another exceptional talent to its new volleyball generation.

photos: Nikolay Varadinov