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Latest news from the world of volleyball
Nikolay Kolev with first MVP award in Volley League after phenomenal match for PAOK
Bulgarian middle blocker Nikolay Kolev delivered a true volleyball recital in the match, where PAOK crushed Finikas Syros 3-0 in sets at the "PAOK Sports Arena" in Pylea. The 27-year-old national team player became a driving force for his team and was deservedly chosen asMVP of the round in Volley League, with this being hisfirst such award in the Greek elite. Kolev finished asPAOK's top scorerwith 14 points – an impressive achievement for a middle blocker. Of these: The statistics clearly show how much Kolev's presence changed the match.
Zehra Güneş with historic recognition - volleyball player in Forbes Türkiye's prestigious "30 Under 30" ranking
The volleyball world rarely witnesses such an event – a female volleyball player making it into Forbes Türkiye's prestigious "30 Under 30" ranking, which honors the most distinguished young individuals under 30 in the fields of business, sports, science, and art.This year, among the chosen, the name of one of the most influential figures in contemporary women's volleyball stands out – Zehra Güneş. The 26-year-old VakıfBank and Turkish national team player continues her ascent on the world stage. With her game, a combination of physical superiority, tactical acumen, and the ability to dominate at the net, Güneş has established herself as one of the strongest middle blockers in international volleyball in recent years. She is among the leading figures in the generation that brought Turkey a European title and triumph in the Nations League, and at the club level – numerous accolades with VakıfBank, including trophies from the Champions League and the Club World Championship. Forbes emphasizes not only Zehra Güneş's athletic achievements but also her influence outside the court.She has become a role model for young girls in Turkey – a symbol of the modern, confident, and successful woman in sports.
Grotadzolina of Iliya Petkov and Georgi Tatarov face Milano in a postponed match in search of points
SuperLega Credem Banca continues on Wednesday at 9:30 PM, when in the hallAllianz Cloudthe lastpostponed match of the 6th roundof the regular season will be played. The hosts fromAllianz MilanohostYuasa Battery Grottazzolina, and for the Bulgarian audience, the interest is highlighted – the guests rely on two Bulgarian national players: middle blockerIliya Petkovand outside hitterGeorgi Tatarov. This is the fourth edition of the rivalry between the two teams after last season's matches. Both teams are looking for points – Milano to stabilize in the middle of the table, and Grottazzolina to escape from the last position. Milano comes with a win in a hard-fought match against Padova.
The Cloudflare outage also affected club volleyball sites in Bulgaria
The global infrastructure collapse ofCloudflareon November 18, 2025, led to operational problems for numerous websites worldwide – including within the Bulgarian volleyball ecosystem. The outage, caused by "unusual traffic" overloading part of the company's network, resulted in loading errors for hundreds of services. Among those affected are the official pages of four leading Bulgarian clubs –Neftochimic 2010 (Burgas),Cherno More Bask (Varna), Montana, and Pirin. Currently, all four sites continue to returnError code 520 – Web server is returning an unknown error, which means Cloudflare cannot establish a normal connection with the origin server. The messages fans see are standard for such situations – the browser is working, Cloudflare is working, butthe hosting for the club websites is unresponsive.
Weak Bulgarian participation in the fifth round of the women's elite championship in Romania
The fifth round in Division A1 women's offered one very high-level derby and three more clearly defined clashes. Bulgarian volleyball players were again part of the events \u2013 with different roles in their teams. The most attractive match of the weekend pitted Corona Brașov against the champion Alba Blaj. The guests snatched the victory 3:2 after a dramatic tie-break (19:17), and the Italian Piani scored a record 33 points. Bulgarian presence:Gergana Shahpazova appeared in play for Brașov and finished with 3 points.
The Nikolov brothers in a ranking with NBA stars: Bulgarians among the rarest talents in NCAA
Season 2025 will forever remain golden for Bulgarian volleyball – not only because of the historic silver medal of the national team at the World Championship in the Philippines, but also because of an even more unique recognition received by the two leaders of this success. Alex and Moni Nikolov – the brothers who led Bulgaria to its first World Championship medal in decades – were included in an extremely rare and prestigious American ranking. A ranking where they are accompanied not by just anyone, but by NBA and NFL superstars like Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis, Zion Williamson, and Jameis Winston. ESPN published a graphic featuring players who, in their first year in college sports, won the most prestigious individual award – National Player of the Year. Across all NCAA sports, only nine freshmen in history have managed to do it.
Guaguas is on a five-game winning streak before tomorrow's first match against Levski in the third round of the Champions League
Spanish CV Guaguas hosts Levski tomorrow in Gran Canaria for the first leg of the Champions League third round in excellent sporting form and with an impressive winning streak in Europe and the local championship. The team has already consecutively eliminated Hungarian MÁV Elore Foxconn and Greek giant Olympiacos, winning all four of its European matches so far. Their last official test was on Saturday against Pamesa Teruel, where Guaguas asserted their class and won 3:1 in sets as a guest. Their performance showed stable control in key moments and high efficiency in attack – precisely the aspects they will try to use to pressure Levski. The Spaniards won three of the four sets, controlled the tempo, and excelled in attack and block, maintaining their composure in contested moments.
First victory for Asparuh Asparuhov in PlusLiga after a real Baltic thriller
Bulgarian international Asparuh Asparuhov achieved his first victory in PlusLiga, and it came after a tense, long, and emotional match, in which the receiver of Ślepsk Malow Suwałki played his most stable game since the start of the season. In parallel, his teammate Bartosz Filipiak recorded a historic moment, surpassing the 4000-point mark in the Polish elite league.This was a key match from Round 6 of PlusLiga forŚlepsk Malow Suwałkiin Arena Gorzów againstCuprum Stilon Gorzów– a fixture of immense importance for both teams, who were looking for a way out of their negative streaks. Both Suwałki and the hosts entered the match with two consecutive losses, desperately needing points and confidence. The "White-Blues" arrived after a heavy 0:3 loss to league leaders Indykpol AZS Olsztyn and a hard-fought 2:3 away loss in Częstochowa. The situation in Gorzów was a mirror image – the hosts had lost 2:3 to Trefl Gdańsk and 0:3 at home to Warta Zawiercie.
PAOK turned OFI, Kolev decided the match with two blocks in the tie-break
The PAOK team recorded its second victory in the championship and its first as an away team, after a dramatic 3:2 (25:18, 29:25, 25:18, 24:26, 9:15) success over OFI in Heraklion. The match, full of twists and turns and balanced statistics between the two teams, was decided in the tie-break, where the Bulgarian middle blocker Nikolay Kolev became a key factor. PAOK found themselves trailing twice – at 0:1 and 1:2 sets – but Valantis Mamas' team showed stability in the end, led by the match MVP Fernando Hernandez, who scored 27 points. After the success, the Thessaloniki team climbed to 6th place in the provisional standings with 5 points. In the tie-break, PAOK made a 5:0 run, starting from 9-10 and directly finishing the match at 9-15.Nikolay Kolev made two consecutive blocks, with the first giving his team a match point and the second closing the match in favor of the "black and whites".
Changes in Levski Sofia's calendar due to participation in the third round of the CEV Champions League
Levski Sofia's men's team made important changes to their schedule after successfully qualifying for the third round of the CEV Champions League. European commitments and long travels in November necessitated a rearrangement of matches in the efbet Super Volley championship. The 'Blues' face Spanish champion Guaguas Las Palmas, with the clash starting with an away game in the Canary Islands. The team departs early tomorrow morning to adapt after the nearly 8-hour journey and different climate. Significant interest is expected for the match in Sofia, with tickets going on online sale in the coming days.