Two Bulgarian internationals found a place among the best in the world – Aleksandar Nikolov as best receiver and Alex Grozdanov as the leader of the block. And if the "Most Valuable Player" trophy was determined by statistics, and not just by who emerged victorious from the final, Nikolov would have lifted it without competition. Polish journalist Jakub Balcerzak predicted exactly this, and the numbers confirm it: Bulgaria had the most influential volleyball player in the championship. Here are the other silver medalists in the final statistics:
🏐Top scorers:
| Rank | Player | Total points | Attack | Block | Serve |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A. Nikolov | 173 | 154 | 7 | 12 |
| 15 | Asparuhov | 67 | 54 | 7 | 6 |
| 18 | Atanasov | 63 | 43 | 14 | 6 |
| 26 | Grozdanov | 51 | 29 | 18 | 4 |
| 30 | S. Nikolov | 44 | 26 | 6 | 12 |
| 33 | Iliya Petkov | 40 | 25 | 10 | 5 |
| 65 | Tatarov | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 |
| 65 | Antov | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| 66 | Preslav Petkov | 7 | 4 | 3 | 0 |
Comment:
📊 Aleksandar Nikolov is the undisputed leader not only for Bulgaria, but also in the entire ranking – with a total of 173 points, 154 of which are from attack.
📊 Asparuhov and Atanasov are also among the top scorers, with the latter impressing with 14 block points.
📊 Grozdanov leads in blocks, while Simeon Nikolov and Iliya Petkov demonstrate a stable contribution.
📉 Tatarov and Antov have less participation, but leave a mark with important points at specific moments.
⚡ Best in attack:
| Rank | Player | Points | Errors | Attempts | Average per match | Success rate | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A. Nikolov | 154 | 40 | 95 | 22.00 | 53.29% | 289 |
| 16 | Asparuhov | 54 | 8 | 50 | 7.71 | 48.21% | 112 |
| 24 | Atanasov | 43 | 15 | 40 | 6.14 | 43.88% | 98 |
| 37 | Grozdanov | 29 | 3 | 18 | 4.14 | 58.00% | 50 |
| 40 | S. Nikolov | 26 | 4 | 13 | 3.71 | 60.47% | 43 |
| 41 | Iliya Petkov | 25 | 6 | 11 | 3.57 | 59.52% | 42 |
| 58 | Antov | 8 | 6 | 2 | 1.14 | 50.00% | 16 |
| 59 | Tatarov | 7 | 2 | 8 | 1.00 | 41.18% | 17 |
| 62 | Preslav Petkov | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0.57 | 57.14% | 7 |
Comment:
📊 Once again, Alex Nikolov's dominance is impressive – not only with a huge points tally, but also with over 53% efficiency.
📊 Asparuh Asparuhov and Martin Atanasov show stability and consistency in attack.
📊 It's interesting to note the high scoring percentage of Simeon Nikolov and Iliya Petkov, who make fewer errors and play with high efficiency.
🛡️Best Blockers:
| Rank | Player | Block | Errors | Deflections | Average per match | Efficiency | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Grozdanov | 18 | 28 | 32 | 2.57 | -12.82% | 78 |
| 4 | Atanasov | 14 | 12 | 9 | 2.00 | 5.71% | 35 |
| 8 | Iliya Petkov | 10 | 20 | 25 | 1.43 | -18.18% | 55 |
| 11 | Asparuhov | 7 | 17 | 14 | 1.00 | -26.32% | 38 |
| 11 | A. Nikolov | 7 | 12 | 16 | 1.00 | -14.29% | 35 |
| 12 | S. Nikolov | 6 | 20 | 28 | 0.86 | -25.93% | 54 |
| 15 | Preslav Petkov | 3 | 3 | 5 | 0.43 | 0.00% | 11 |
| 17 | Tatarov | 1 | 4 | 2 | 0.14 | -42.86% | 7 |
Comment:
📊 Alex Grozdanov is the clear leader in this element, with 18 block points securing him first place.
📊 Martin Atanasov impresses with a high efficiency percentage and a stable average per match.
📉 Negative percentages for some players are due to a large number of attempts and risky situations at the net.
💥 Best servers:
| Rank | Player | Points | Errors | Attempts | Average per match | Success rate | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | S. Nikolov | 12 | 22 | 64 | 1.71 | 12.24% | 98 |
| 4 | A. Nikolov | 12 | 29 | 83 | 1.71 | 9.68% | 124 |
| 9 | Atanasov | 6 | 17 | 53 | 0.86 | 7.89% | 76 |
| 9 | Asparuhov | 6 | 20 | 68 | 0.86 | 6.38% | 94 |
| 10 | Iliya Petkov | 5 | 24 | 47 | 0.71 | 6.58% | 76 |
| 11 | Grozdanov | 4 | 7 | 90 | 0.57 | 3.96% | 101 |
Comment:
📊 The most effective from the service line are Simeon Nikolov and Alex Nikolov with 12 points each, with the former also having a better success rate.
📊 Martin Atanasov and Asparuh Asparuhov maintain stable performance in this element as well.
📉 The relatively low percentages are due to the large number of errors, which is typical for attempts to maintain the aggressive serving style of the Bulgarian team.
🎯Best Setters (sets):
| Rank | Player | Successful | Errors | Attempts | Average per match | Success rate | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Simeon Nikolov | 236 | 4 | 322 | 33.71 | 41.99% | 562 |
| 51 | Atanasov | 2 | 3 | 22 | 0.29 | 7.41% | 27 |
| 52 | Iliya Petkov | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0.14 | 14.29% | 7 |
| 52 | Asparuhov | 1 | 0 | 20 | 0.14 | 4.76% | 21 |
| 52 | A. Nikolov | 1 | 1 | 24 | 0.14 | 3.85% | 26 |
Comment:
📊 Simeon Nikolov is the team's key player with a total of 236 successful passes and a stable efficiency over 41%.
🛡️Best in Defense (Balls Saved):
| Rank | Player | Balls Saved | Errors | Receptions | Average per match | Success rate | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | D. Kolev | 31 | 23 | 13 | 4.43 | 46.27% | 67 |
| 7 | S. Nikolov | 29 | 15 | 26 | 4.14 | 41.43% | 70 |
| 8 | Asparuhov | 28 | 13 | 24 | 4.00 | 43.08% | 65 |
| 9 | Atanasov | 27 | 15 | 21 | 3.86 | 42.86% | 63 |
| 10 | A. Nikolov | 26 | 13 | 22 | 3.71 | 42.62% | 61 |
| 23 | Iliya Petkov | 12 | 2 | 15 | 1.71 | 41.38% | 29 |
| 25 | Grozdanov | 10 | 8 | 10 | 1.43 | 35.71% | 28 |
| 28 | Tatarov | 7 | 2 | 0 | 1.00 | 77.78% | 9 |
| 33 | Zhelev | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.29 | 100.00% | 2 |
| 33 | Preslav Petkov | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0.29 | 33.33% | 6 |
| 34 | Antov | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0.14 | 50.00% | 2 |
| 34 | Palev | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0.14 | 25.00% | 4 |
| 34 | Dobrev | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0.14 | 20.00% | 5 |
Comment:
📊 Damyan Kolev is Bulgaria's strongest defender with 31 digs and over 46% efficiency.
📊 The libero is strongly supported by Simeon Nikolov, Asparuh Asparuhov, and Martin Atanasov, who also rank in the top 10.
📊 Iliya Petkov and Alex Grozdanov stand out with effective deep play, while Georgi Tatarov impresses with a high success rate on a limited number of interventions.
📥Best passers:
| Rank | Player | Successful | Errors | Attempts | Average per match | Success rate | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | D. Kolev | 32 | 13 | 119 | 4.57 | 19.51% | 164 |
| 8 | A. Nikolov | 28 | 9 | 60 | 4.00 | 28.87% | 97 |
| 16 | Atanasov | 20 | 6 | 94 | 2.86 | 16.67% | 120 |
| 28 | Asparuhov | 8 | 5 | 35 | 1.14 | 16.67% | 48 |
| 33 | Tatarov | 3 | 3 | 12 | 0.43 | 16.67% | 18 |
| 34 | Iliya Petkov | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0.29 | 40.00% | 5 |
| 34 | Grozdanov | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.29 | 100.00% | 2 |
| 35 | Dobrev | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0.14 | 33.33% | 3 |
| 35 | Preslav Petkov | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.14 | 100.00% | 1 |
Comment:
📊 Damyan Kolev is once again the leader, this time in reception – with 32 successful attempts and the highest total number of participations.
📊 Aleksandar Nikolov and Martin Atanasov maintain a stable level and high efficiency with a larger workload.
📊 Asparuh Asparuhov and Georgi Tatarov demonstrate reliability with more limited workloads.
📉 The performance of Iliya Petkov and Alex Grozdanov is interesting; despite having few participations, they show a high success rate.
photos: Nikolay Varadinov
