Bulgaria and Finland are pre-assigned to the same group at the 2027 Men's Volleyball World Championship in Poland.
According to data published on October 30, the world vice-champions from Bulgaria will be the leaders of Group H, and Finland will take the second pre-determined position. The remaining two teams will be announced on December 3, when the draw will take place in the historic Wieliczka Salt Mine near Krakow.
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Already at the press conference on October 27, Lyubomir Ganev commented to VolleyWeek on the possibility of Bulgaria being in a group with Finland. At that time, the president of the federation explained the expected distribution according to the world ranking. Three days later, the Danish Federation published the specific scheme, which confirms this scenario.
Bulgaria at the head of the last group
Unlike the World Championship in the Philippines in 2025, when only the eight group leaders were pre-determined, for the 2027 World Cup, the first 16 seeded teams are automatically distributed.
According to the Danish Federation, the so-calledserpentine systemis applied – the first eight seeded teams take the leading positions in groups A to H, and the next eight are distributed in reverse order – from H to A. Thus, the eighth seed, in this case Bulgaria, falls into a group with the ninth - Finland (the Scandinavians are 10th in the world, but due to Russia's withdrawal, which is third, they are ninth in the draw, editor's note), while the other two opponents will be determined by draw on December 3.
The preliminary distribution looks like this:
| Group | First seed | Second seed |
|---|---|---|
| A | Poland | Turkey |
| B | Italy | Canada |
| C | USA | Belgium |
| D | Japan | Argentina |
| E | Brazil | Cuba |
| F | Slovenia | Ukraine |
| G | France | Germany |
| H | Bulgaria | Finland |
Thus, Bulgaria already knows one of its opponents in the group stage, before the official ceremony has taken place. From the other groups, Group G also attracts attention, in which Olympic champion France will be together with Germany.
Which teams can Bulgaria be drawn against?
On December 3, the remaining 16 participants will be distributed. They are divided into two seeding levels, with one representative from each level going into each group.
Possible opponents are:
| Third level | Fourth level |
|---|---|
| Serbia | Puerto Rico |
| Iran | Chile |
| Czech Republic | Egypt |
| Greece | Estonia |
| Romania | Tunisia |
| Netherlands | Cameroon |
| Mexico | Algeria |
| Republic of Korea | Denmark |
Bulgaria will get one opponent from each of the two levels. European teams predominate in the third, while the fourth includes representatives from four continental confederations. The specific possibilities will also depend on the restrictions set out in the draw procedure, whose detailed terms have not yet been published.
The new system has already been applied to women
The mechanism with the preliminary distribution of 16 teams was already used in the draw for the 2027 Women's World Championship, held on October 26.
This is also confirmed by the video recording of the ceremony, reviewed by VolleyWeek. It clearly shows that the first two positions in each of the eight groups are predetermined, and the third and fourth positions are filled by draw from two urns placed in front of legend Karch Kiraly.
The change in procedure is also evident when comparing video recordings of the two ceremonies. In the draw for the 2025 Men's World Championship, three urns were used to distribute 24 teams.
For women, however, there was an additional peculiarity related to the participation of Russia and Ukraine.
Russia was pre-assigned to Group F along with Japan, while Ukraine was placed in Group G outside the usual draw for the other teams. The reason cited by the organizers is related to the current international situation.
This way, the possibility of Russia and Ukraine meeting in the group stage was avoided.
The regulatory basis for the change remains unclear.
Although the new system has already been applied to women and presented by the Danish Federation as a procedure for the Men's World Cup 2027, VolleyWeek did not find a publicly available special FIVB regulation explaining the basis for the preliminary distribution of 16 instead of eight teams.
The general FIVB regulations for 2026 stipulate that in groups with a maximum of four teams, only the group leader should be predetermined. At the same time, the federation allows for the adoption of specific rules for individual competitions.
Thus, it remains unclear when and with what motives the new procedure was approved. The difference compared to the 2025 World Championship in the Philippines is significant, as the format remains unchanged – 32 teams in eight groups of four.
The draw 125 meters underground
The ceremony on December 3 will take place in the Wieliczka Salt Mine, located near Krakow. It will be broadcast live on Polsat channels in Poland and on the Volleyball World YouTube channel for other countries. The start time has not yet been announced.
The World Championship will be held from September 10 to 26, 2027, in five Polish cities – Gdansk, Katowice, Lodz, Olsztyn, and Krakow. The group stage will be in the first four cities, and the semifinals and medal matches will be played in Krakow. It has not yet been specified which city will host the matches for Group H.
For Bulgaria, however, one of the unknowns has already been eliminated – Finland will be among the opponents of the world vice-champions, and on December 3, we will learn the other two teams in the group.
photos: Nikolay Varadinov and frame grab
