The Bulgarian men's national volleyball team is beginning to take shape before the start of the 2026 Nations League. 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

• Hristiyan Dimitrov

Outside hitters:

• Aleksandar Nikolov

• Asparuh Asparuhov

• Georgi Tatarov

• Martin Atanasov

• Rusi Zhelev

• Denislav Bardarov

• Samuil Valchinov
  
  Zhasmin Velichkov will also join here, but conditionally.

Middle blockers:

• Alex Grozdanov

• Preslav Petkov

• Iliya Petkov

• Boris Nachev

Liberos:

• Damyan Kolev – Levski
  
  It is possible that 'veteran' Martin Bozhilov will be called up again, with Dimitar Dobrev also being an option; he will most likely be called up for the U22 men's team as well. It is not excluded that players from the domestic championship may be included in the squad, with a probability that these could be middle blockers and outside hitters. Viktor Zhekov, Kostadin Kozelov, and Tomislav Rusev will also join the men's team at the training camp, which starts on April 27, and will later transfer to the youth squad under the guidance of Dani Peev.

The calendar and Velichkov's role

The distribution of tournaments in the VNL and the U22 European Championship provides a clearer picture of Velichkov's potential participation.
The first VNL tournament is in Brazil (June 10–14), the second – in Ljubljana (June 24–28), and the U22 European Championship will be held 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.
For his part, the third week of the VNL in Chicago in July appears to be a completely realistic time for his inclusion with the senior men's team.
It should be recalled that last year, during the training camp in Samokov, an expanded squad was announced after the Governing Board of the Bulgarian Volleyball Federation approved a list of 43 players for the national team. The large number was dictated by the strategy for Bulgaria to once again have an A and B team, which allowed for wider rotation and participation in various tournaments.
Although without an officially announced extended list, Bulgaria already has a clearly defined core of players for VNL 2026. It remains to be seen how much this circle of names will be expanded and confirmed, but the direction in which the team will develop in the upcoming season is already clear – preserving the backbone of the team that won silver in Manila.

photo: Nikolay Varadinov