Emotional Bulgaria Defeats Germany at FIVB World League

Bulgaria scored an emotional and precious victory on the first day of the 23rd FIVB Volleyball World League finals in Sofia on Wednesday evening.

Host Bulgaria defeated Germany 3-1 (26-28, 25-19, 29-27, 25-19), cheered up by an audience of more than 11 000 people at Arena Armeets Sofia hall and moving closer to the semifinals.

Bulgaria, which has set eyes on the World League title, gradually enhanced its performance during the match to triumph at the end with the maximum score and on top of its group.

The team has been shaken lately by an acrid scandal with the Bulgarian Volleyball federation, the resignation of popular and successful coach Radostin Stoychev and key player Matey Kaziyski.

The team is now headed by Nayden Naydenov, who was named Bulgarian men's volleyball team interim coach ahead of the upcoming Olympic tournament.

Despite the team's good performance, Bulgarian volleyball fans continue to overwhelmingly oppose and demand the resignation of the federation's president Dancho Lazarov.

Numerous posters could be spotted during the team's latest game, reading "BGfederation – shame for our nation" and "Lazarov, be a man, free the team and its fans."

The Federation International de Volleyball (FIVB), which is the governing body of the event, has divided the grid of six teams into two groups: Pool E and Pool F.

Bulgaria, United States, and Germany have been tagged as Pool E teams, while Poland, Cuba, and Brazil go into Pool F.

Brazil will take on Poland and Germany plays against the United States on the second day of the tournament on Thursday.

Poland-Cuba and Bulgaria-USA will be the last matches into the pools of the tournament on Friday.