The Bulgarian men's national volleyball team begins its participation in the second competition week of the Volleyball Nations League (VNL) 2026 today.
From 14:00 Bulgarian time in the Slovenian capital Ljubljana, our boys face the reigning world champion Italy.
The match carries a huge charge. It is a direct repeat of the dramatic final of the 2025 World Championship, won by the Italians.
Changes in both squads
Bulgarian coach Gianlorenzo Blenghini has relied on stability, making only one change in the group of 14 players compared to the first tournament in Brazil. The receiver Georgi Tatarov returns to the team, taking the place of Jasmin Velichkov. The big star of the “Lions“ Alexander Nikolov will once again lead the attack of ours. Currently, Bulgaria occupies 9th place in the provisional ranking with a balance of 2 wins and 2 losses (6 points)
. At the same time, the Italian coach Ferdinando De Giorgi arrives in Ljubljana with serious changes. Italy will again be without its great captain and distributor Simone Giannelli, who is recovering from an injury. On the other hand, four key figures return to the “Squadra Azzurri“: Riccardo Sbertoli (distributor), Daniele Lavia (receiver), Gianluca Galasi (center) and Lorenzo Cortesia (center).
The Italians are currently 4th in the standings with 3 wins, 1 loss and 9 points.
Bulgaria's schedule in Ljubljana will continue on June 25 at 9:30 PM with a match against Slovenia, after which on June 27 at 5:30 PM our team will meet Canada, and a day later at 2:00 PM our men's opponent will be Ukraine.
Today's match will be broadcast live on the global platform of Volleyball World - VBTV. The goal for the Bulgarian volleyball players remains to qualify for the top week of the preliminary phase, which will provide them with a historic first participation in the VNL Finals in Ningbo, China.