Bulgaria wildcard, not so lucky
The Sohpia Echo has reported that Wild Card recipient and 2006 World Championship Bronze Medailists Bulgaria is aiming for a top 3 finish. At the European Continental Qualifiers, there will be a lot of strong teams, including France, Poland, Serbia and Holland, the World Cup is considered their best chance to qualify. Whilst Brazil and Russia are the favourites, coach Stoev has said they must find a way to get past Spain and the USA, as they are assuming they will have no problems with the other teams. Considering their 8th place finish at the recent Euro Champs, they were lucky to be granted a wildcard. Or were they…?
The FIVB and the competition organisers announced their decision to assign the two wild cards to Bulgaria and Korea on September 26. However, it became clear that the Bulgarian volleyball federation was aware of this decision a month earlier, before Euro 2007 in Russia. The governing body explained that Bulgaria was appointed by the FIVB Board of Administration in order to allow Germany to host one of the Intercontinental Olympic Qualification Tournaments. The Bulgarian federation revealed its personal gratitude to FIVB President Dr. Ruben Acosta… more Sophia Echo
It does make you wonder a little about the results from the European Championships.
