Lausanne, Switzerland, June 12, 2018 - Bulgaria have lost five of their last six matches in the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Nations League, so need a win against France, Friday at home in Varna, to get back on track in the race for a ticket to the Final Six. But though the Balkan team lead their head-to-head with France at world level 15-9, they have lost the last three encounters and have not beaten France in five years.
Head-to-Head
• Bulgaria and France have met 24 times at world level major competitions, with Bulgaria winning 15 matches and France nine.
• World level major competitions are: the VNL, Olympic Games, World Championships, World Cup, World League and Grand Champions Cup.
• Their most recent meeting at a world level major tournament came at the 2017 World League, when France won in straight sets.
• France could beat Bulgaria three times in a row at world level major competitions, a feat they have not yet achieved.• Bulgaria's last victory over France came at the 2013 World League (3-0).
• France have won three of the previous five world level matches against Bulgaria which were played on Bulgarian soil, including the last two. All five were played in Varna.
Bulgaria
• After winning two of their first three VNL matches, Bulgaria have now lost five of their last six.
• Bulgaria lost all four previous VNL matches against fellow European sides: 3-2 against Serbia, 3-0 against Russia and 3-1 against Italy and Poland.
• Bulgaria have won each of their last six world level major competition matches in which they won the first set, including against China and Japan at the 2018 VNL.
• Svetoslav Gotsev and Viktor Yosifov are in the top-5 best blockers at the 2018 VNL, both averaging 0.56 per set.
France
• France have a W7-L2 record at the 2018 VNL so far.
• France suffered both their losses in the second week of play, against Poland (3-0) and China (3-2).
• Stephen Boyer is France's most prolific scorer (111 points) and most successful spiker (success rate 52.91%) at the 2018 VNL.
• No player scored as many total VNL points as Boyer this season without recording a single point from serves.