Champions Levski defeated CSKA with 3:0 (25:19, 25:19, 25:14) in the first match of the new men's volleyball championship, season 2024/25. Six days prior, in the semi-final for the Bulgarian Super Cup, the "Blues" again achieved a clean victory. This was also Levski's ninth consecutive success in the derby against CSKA in recent years, according to statistics.
Levski started with the lineup: Stoil Palev, Svetoslav Gotsev, Venislav Antov, Vladimir Garkov, Julius Firkal, and Livan Osoria with libero Damyan Kolev.
For the "Reds", Strahinja Brzakovic, Nikolay Penchev, Hristiyan Velikov, Vladimir Stankov, Todor Kostov, Stefan Chavdarov, and libero Martin Bozhilov took to the court.

In the first set, the match started evenly, with both teams going point for point, before Levski pulled away for the first time at 8:5 after a successful block by captain Svetoslav Gotsev.
The "Blues"' lead continued, and at 12:7, CSKA coach Aleksandar Popov was forced to call a timeout. However, it did not yield results, because even after it, Levski scored a point after an attack by Vladimir Garkov.

Gotsev continued his strong performance, making another successful block for 19:13, and at 20:13, Popov called a second timeout for the set. After that, the "Reds" scored two consecutive points, which forced Nikolay Zhelyazkov to also use a timeout to break the rhythm of the game. Slovakian Julius Firkal made an ace for the "Blues" for 22:15. Strahinja Brzakovic also made an ace from service for CSKA, but then shot out. At 24:17, CSKA scored two consecutive points, but then Velikov shot into the net from service, with which Levski won the first set.

The second set also started with an exchange of points, but Levski again managed to pull away to 7:4 with another block by Gotsev, after which Aleksandar Popov used his first timeout. The set was very similar to the first, with Zhelyazkov's team leading 22:15, and only at the end did the "Reds" mobilize and score some points. The set again ended 19:25 and again after a service into the net by Hristiyan Velikov of CSKA.

The third set started point for point, after which Levski took the lead at 9:7 after successful attacks by Firkal and Antov. After an ace by the "Blues"' captain Gotsev for 11:8, Aleksandar Popov called a timeout. The "Reds"' coach constantly made substitutions in search of the optimal lineup and tried to break up the game, which was going in favor of the opponent. However, Levski again reached a serious lead after 15:8 and a block by Osoria. The "Blues" continued to dominate, and at the end of the match, 17-year-old Dimitar Peychinov, who is 213 cm tall, made his debut for the champions. He also scored the winning point for the team for 25:14.

Levski captain Svetoslav Gotsev scored 15 points and was chosen as the most valuable player of the match. His teammate Venislav Antov also finished with the same number of points.

Photos: Nikolay Varadinov