Bulgaria flexed its muscle and secured the top spot in Pool E after a commanding sweep of winless Chile, 25-17, 25-12, 25-12, at the SM Mall of Asia Arena on Wednesday in the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship.
Aleksandar Nikolov continued his red-hot form, firing 17 points on an impressive 83-percent attack efficiency as Bulgaria set its sights on a Round of 16 clash against the No. 2 seed from Pool D, either Cuba or Portugal.
Martin Atanasov was equally lethal, delivering 12 points on an 80-percent attack rate, while Asparuh Asparuhov added 10 markers.
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Moni Nikolov orchestrated Bulgaria’s offense with his trademark playmaking and contributed seven points.
“I’m proud of my team for the win today because these kinds of games, when we were already qualified and we play against the outsider of the group, it’s really hard to play,” Atanasov said.
“We went very seriously into the game today, and I’m proud of the team. Our position is amazing, we played great volleyball, and I think we deserve first place in the group.”
Reflecting on Bulgaria’s flawless Pool E campaign, Atanasov added that the sweep came as no surprise.
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“We came here to win every game, so I’m not surprised,” he said. “There are a lot of surprises also in the other groups. This is the World Championship. Everybody’s playing 100% every game.
“And if you don’t play at your maximum level, it’s hard to win against anybody. So I’m happy that we played every game 100%, we deserve the wins, and we deserve first place.”
Chile, making its first World Championship appearance in 43 years, finished the group stage winless. Vicente Valenzuela and Vicente Parraguirre led the team with seven points each, but no Chilean reached double digits.
#WATCH: Martin Atanasov and Bulgaria stay confident after their impressive #MWCH2025 Pool E sweep — they knew they could do it! 🇧🇬🏐
📹 @justinvalencia_ /Tiebreaker Times pic.twitter.com/kn2BDRzJhU
— Tiebreaker Times (@tiebreakertimes) September 17, 2025
