Unity. And joy, euphoria, support, hope. But most of all, unity. This was the result of the triumph of the Bulgarian men's national volleyball team, who for the first time in over 55 years reached second place at the World Championship, which took place in the Philippines. Proof was the tens of thousands of Bulgarians who gathered in front of the "St. Alexander Nevsky" cathedral to welcome the volleyball heroes and millions more in front of the screens.

The "Lions" grabbed the silver medal after winning against Germany, Slovenia, Chile, the United States and the Czech Republic. In the final against Italy they showed great spirit, but lost 1:3.

• Bulgaria is back on the world volleyball map – it is silver again after 55 years!

While the players themselves were still struggling to realize and express in words their incredible achievement, all of Bulgaria called them heroes. As a gesture of gratitude, they were met in Istanbul by the Minister of Sports Ivan Peshev and the government plane brought them to the Motherland.

"Extraordinary success!,” Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov said. “Success actually has two dimensions. The first dimension is that these are our champions. In the final, we saw how much effort, struggle, but at the same time calmness there was in the team. Naturally, the tension is great, but this team, the potential, the youth, provide guarantees for success in the future. And the other dimension - the nation was united, it was together, it was a people!".

• The Bulgarian volleyball players were welcomed at the government terminal of Vasil Levski airport

The culmination of the celebrations on the occasion of the national team's success, however, was later, outside the rhetoric of politicians. After a few hours of rest, the youngest team at the World Championship had the opportunity to feel the euphoria of emotions that Bulgarian society had not expressed so energetically since the hot summer of 1994, when the Bulgarian football team placed fourth in the world.

• Bulgaria welcomes its new volleyball legends

Our national team made a tour of Sofia, which ended amidst the stormy ovations of the crowd of many thousands waiting for them in front of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral.

"You made Bulgaria cry with joy. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts and wish you a bright volleyball future. What you demonstrated was exceptional," said volleyball legend Dimitar Karov, who 55 years ago was among the first volleyball silver medallists. He is also the first Bulgarian to be inducted into the International Volleyball Hall of Fame.

"I am extremely happy that we managed to unite the nation and that you are all here to share the success of one country", the captain of the volleyball team Aleks Grozdanov told the crowd, who were chanting "Bulgarians – heroes".

"I am very emotional and I really can't believe what I see here. This is Bulgaria! And as I and the whole team see this, we can't help but want to be here again next summer, to win medals for Bulgaria. We promise you one thing - while we play for Bulgaria, everyone here is ready to die on the court," said another of Bulgaria’s volleyball stars Simeon Nikolov.

"The hardest part has just begun," coach Gianlorenzo Blengini said upon landing in Sofia, commenting the already high expectations for the team, as well as the fact that every opponent would want to win at any cost. On the square, the coach was raised by the boys, and his words were laconic, spoken in English and Bulgarian:

"I'm really speechless. Thank you! I don't know... Bulgarians - heroes, Bulgarians - heroes!" chanted the Italian, provoking a strong reaction among the thousands of people.

The players from the team said that if they won an Olympic title, they would also raise the president of the volleyball federation, Lyubomir Ganev, in their arms. Here is what Ganev told Radio Bulgaria:

"I can't say whether youth was an advantage, but this team made the biggest impression at the World Championship. Absolutely all the presidents of federations and the president of the International Federation said: ‘Lyubo, you have a great team!’. Everyone saw this. Youth cannot be a vice and these guys literally live for each other. Talents emerge in the clubs. That's why we want to have a good championship in which more Bulgarians play. That's why we have no more than three foreign players on the volleyball court."

The No. 1 scorer of the World Championship – Aleksandar Nikolov, also spoke to Radio Bulgaria.

"We followed the media coverage and we knew that the welcoming would be great, but this exceeded all expectations. To see so many people in one place, who came for our team, is simply incredible," said the elder son of volleyball legend Vladimir Nikolov.

After the storm of emotions, volleyball fans are already looking forward to the next challenges. We expect new successes from our volleyball national team at the Volleyball Nations League, which will be held in June 2026. The team will play in front of a home audience next autumn in Varna at the European Volleyball Championship, which Bulgaria will host together with Italy, Romania and Finland.

Author: Ivan Gergov

Publication in English: Al. Markov

Photos: Ivan Gergov, BTA, bvf.bg