The Bulgarian men's national volleyball team is starting to take shape before the start of the Nations League in 2026. Although an official extended roster has not yet been announced, based on available information and the current form of the players, a relatively clear prediction can be made for some of the names that will be included.
Head coach Gianlorenzo Blengini is expected to rely on a combination of established players and younger athletes who have already gained significant experience at club level.

🏐 Expected names in the squad

Setters:

• Simeon Nikolov

• Stoil Palev

• Lyuboslav Telkiyski

Opposite hitters:

• Venislav Antov

• Dimitar Dimitrov

Outside hitters:

• Aleksandar Nikolov

• Asparuh Asparuhov

• Georgi Tatarov

• Martin Atanasov

• Rusi Zhelev

• Denislav Bardarov

• Samuil Valchinov

Middle blockers:

• Alex Grozdanov

• Preslav Petkov

• Iliya Petkov

• Boris Nachev

In the libero position:

• Damyan Kolev – Levski
  
  It is possible that "veteran" Martin Bozhilov will be called up again, with Dimitar Dobrev also being an option, but he will most likely be called up for the U22 men's team as well.

To this list should also be added:

• Zhasmin Velichkov – outside hitter – Monza

🧠 Velichkov's Calendar and Role

The distribution of tournaments in the VNL and the U22 European Championship gives a clearer idea of Velichkov's possible participation.
The first VNL tournament is in Brazil (June 10–14), the second – in Ljubljana (June 24–28), and the U22 European Championship will take place from June 29 to July 4.
This means that Monza's outside hitter has a time window to be part of the squad for the first week of the tournament, but will almost certainly miss the second tournament in Slovenia due to his commitments with the youth national team. Viktor Zhekoff, Kostadin Kozelov, and Tomislav Rusev will also join the senior team at the training camp starting on April 26, and they will later join the youth squad under the leadership of Dani Peev.
For his part, the third week of the VNL in Chicago in July appears to be a completely realistic time for his inclusion in the senior team.

Although no official expanded roster has been announced, Bulgaria already has a clearly defined core of players for VNL 2026. It remains to be seen to what extent this pool of names will be expanded, but the direction in which the team will develop in the upcoming season is already clear.

photo: Nikolay Varadinov