Bulgaria's national U21 volleyball team secured an early spot at next year's European Championship in Portugal, after recording a second consecutive victory in the Group C qualifiers. Head coach Ventsislav Simeonov's boys decisively won 3:0 (25:22, 25:23, 25:22) against Norway in front of about 150 spectators in the new "Arena SamElion" hall in Samokov.
Thus, the young "Lions" now have 2 wins from 2 matches and 6 points, which practically sends them to EuroVolley 2026. According to the regulations, the winners of each of the five groups and the best two second-placed teams qualify. Even if they lose 0:3 in their last match against Spain (on July 13 at 5:30 PM), Bulgaria will remain at the top of the group.
⭐ Strong captain and stable team
Captain Alexander Kandev was again above all, scoring 16 points (1 ace, 56% attack efficiency, and 38% positive reception). Jasmin Velichkov and Stiliyan Delibosov added 8 points each, cementing the hosts' dominance.
For Norway, Eskil Engos and Konras Spidsjo distinguished themselves with 15 points each.
| No. | Name | Total | Block Points | W-L | Serve | Error | Ace | Reception | Error | %Pos | %Perf | Attack | Error | Block | Exc | %Exc | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | B chvarov | 1 | . | - | 3 | 1 | . | - | . | . | . | 1 | . | . | 1 | 100% | . |
| 2 | Vitekov | - | . | -1 | 2 | 1 | . | - | . | . | . | - | . | . | . | . | . |
| 3 | Velichkov | 12 | 5 | 10 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 21 | . | 52% | 24% | 16 | . | . | 10 | 63% | 1 |
| 4 | Tsanev | - | . | - | - | . | . | - | . | . | . | - | . | . | . | . | . |
| 6 | Kozelov | - | . | -1 | 6 | . | . | - | . | . | . | - | . | . | . | . | . |
| 8 | Delibosov | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | . | . | 1 | . | 0% | 0% | 5 | . | 3 | 1 | 20% | 1 |
| 11 | Zhekov | 2 | 1 | - | 14 | 2 | . | - | . | . | . | 1 | . | . | 1 | 100% | 1 |
| 12 | Rusev | 8 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 2 | . | - | . | . | . | 7 | . | . | 3 | 43% | 5 |
| 13 | Kandev | 14 | 4 | 5 | 15 | 4 | 1 | 12 | 2 | 33% | 8% | 28 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 39% | 2 |
| 14 | Ivanov | - | . | - | - | . | . | - | . | . | . | - | . | . | . | . | . |
| 16 | Petrov | - | . | -1 | - | . | . | 13 | 1 | 62% | 8% | - | . | . | . | . | . |
| 17 | Andreev | - | . | - | - | . | . | - | . | . | . | - | . | . | . | . | . |
| 18 | Hristov | 6 | 1 | -2 | 11 | 3 | . | 1 | . | 100% | 0% | 16 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 38% | . |
| 20 | Dinov | - | . | - | - | . | . | - | . | . | . | - | . | . | . | . | . |
🔜 Last step tomorrow against Spain
The young national players will close their participation in this group stage with a match against Spain. The match is on July 13, at 5:30 PM in Samokov, and the result is irrelevant for the already qualified Bulgarians.
