Bulgaria Tops Group E with Convincing Win over Chile at Volleyball World Championship

The Bulgarian men’s national volleyball team wrapped up its participation in Group E of the World Championship in the Philippines with a flawless performance, securing a third consecutive victory. The team dominated Chile with a straight-sets win, 3:0 (25:17, 25:12, 25:12), claiming first place in the group standings in Pasay City, ahead of Germany and Slovenia, with a total of 8 points.

Coach Gianlorenzo Blengini fielded a starting lineup of Simeon Nikolov, Asparuh Asparuhov, Alexander Nikolov, Martin Atanasov, Alex Grozdanov, Iliya Petkov, and Damyan Kolev as libero. Bulgaria quickly established control in the opening set, maintaining a lead of 3–6 points throughout. The set concluded at 25:17 following a decisive attack from Atanasov and a triple-block from the Bulgarian side.

The second set saw Bulgaria extend its dominance even further, finishing 25:12. Chile’s coach Daniel Nejamkin struggled to counter the well-organized Bulgarian squad. Strong serving and solid blocking allowed the team to build an early lead of 14:8, after which Blenghini rotated in players with fewer minutes, including Venislav Antov, Stoil Palev, Boris Nachev, Rusi Zhelev, and second libero Dimitar Dobrev.

Alexander Nikolov led the scoring for Bulgaria with 17 points, followed by Martin Atanasov with 12, and Asparuh Asparuhov with 10 points. The national team will next face either Portugal or Cuba in the round of 16 on Monday, looking to continue their strong run in the tournament.