Bulgarian volleyball is on track to have representatives at both U19 World Championships in 2027. The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) has officially confirmed the hosts for the boys' and girls' championships. The Indian city of Pune will host the boys, and Astana (Kazakhstan) will host the girls. The Bulgarian boys have already secured a quota, while for the girls, the official FIVB documentation provides a direct spot for the reigning world champion.
The decision on the hosts was made by the FIVB Administrative Council after the completion of the application process. Both tournaments will feature 24 national teams, with 52 matches planned.

Boys: European bronze takes Bulgaria to India

The U19 Boys' World Championship will be held from August 19 to 29, 2027, in the Indian city of Pune.
The Bulgarian national team secured its participation thanks to the bronze medals from the U18 European Championship, held in July 2026 in Italy.
Miroslav Zhivkov's proteges finished third after defeating the hosts 3:0 (25:19, 25:19, 25:23) in the bronze medal match in Porto San Giorgio. The Bulgarians were also close to the final, but in the semifinals, they lost to the future European champion Poland 2:3 (25:19, 19:25, 35:33, 17:25, 10:15).
The strong performance also brought two individual awards. Outside hitter Nikola Gradinarov and middle blocker Adrian Ganev were included in the ideal team of the European Championship.
At the last U19 World Championship in 2025, Bulgaria finished sixth in Tashkent (Uzbekistan), and France won the world title.

Girls: The 2025 world title provides grounds for a direct quota

The U19 Girls' World Championship will be held from August 5 to 15, 2027, in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Bulgaria is the reigning world champion in this age category. On July 13, 2025, the national team, led by Atanas Petrov, won the historic title in Osijek (Croatia) after defeating the USA 3:1 (21:25, 25:16, 25:17, 29:27) in the final.
A particularly important detail is contained in the official FIVB documentation for the youth World Championships in 2027 and 2028.
In the "Competition Format" section, on page 6 of the document, the international federation explicitly provides one of the 24 quotas for the reigning world champion (Current Champion).
The remaining spots are distributed among the host, continental confederations, and teams that have not yet qualified but have the highest ranking in the world rankings.

Thus, Bulgaria meets the condition for direct participation as the holder of the 2025 world title. This is particularly important because the next generation of Bulgarian national players finished seventh at the U18 European Championship in 2026 in Latvia and Lithuania and did not secure a quota through the continental championship.
The qualification scheme published by FIVB provides documentary grounds for our country to count on a place in the tournament as the reigning world champion. However, the final named list of participants has not yet been announced.

In this way, Bulgarian volleyball has the opportunity in August 2027 to participate in two World Championships - with the European bronze medalists in the boys' category and with the new generation in the girls' category, who will have the task of defending the historic title from Osijek.

graphics: volleyweek and fivb