The head coach of the Bulgarian U22 men's national team, Daniel Peev, attended the third playoff quarter-final match between CSKA and Beroe. The new coach of the young "Lions" began an active process of scouting players for the upcoming European Championship, with his attention focused on Beroe's setter Rangel Vitekoff and CSKA's (the "Reds'") outside hitter Zahari Zgurov.
An interesting detail is that the match coincided with the birthday of the "Army men's" player " March 27th, when he turned 19. Despite this, Zgurov did not get playing time in the match. He last appeared on the court on March 11th against Levski, when he came on after the second set and scored 2 points.

The young outside hitter's name was among the most discussed during the last campaign, after he did not make it into the U19 national team squad, despite his consistent performances. His season includes both a strong performance with CSKA and a U20 Balkan Beach Volleyball Championship title alongside Georgi Antov, which secured him participation in a European Championship.
Zgurov's case became indicative of the discrepancy between individual results and the decisions of who to call up to the national squad for that age group.
The preparation of the U22 national team will start between May 10th and 12th in Samokov. The team will have about 30 35 days to work before the start of the European Championship.
The championship itself will be held from June 29th to July 4th, 2026, in Portugal, which places a serious emphasis on quickly building the squad and selecting players in good playing form.
Jasmin Valichkov is also included in the plans and will be part of the main squad for the championship. The coaching staff is expected to rely on a wider range of players from various age
groups to compensate for deficiencies in certain positions.
Kristian Titriyski is also expected to be part of the national team. The opposite hitter is having a strong season with the University of Hawaii in NCAA Division I and is establishing himself as a key scorer for the team.
The new staff relies on observation in real match conditions, with performance in club teams being the leading criterion for squad selection. It is precisely in this context that the interest in Zgurov falls, as he is already on the head coach's radar.