Lausanne, Switzerland, June 5, 2018 - Japan host Bulgaria, Friday in Osaka, looking to keep the momentum strong after their stunning five-set win over Korea last weeken in the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Nations League, while the Balkan side will be looking at putting an end to their losing streak after dropping all three of their home matches last week. Japan and Bulgaria meet for the 31st time in history, with the Europeans leading the series 20-10.
Head-to-Head
• Japan and Bulgaria have met 30 times before in world level major competitions. Bulgaria have won 20 of their previous matches, Japan 10.
• World level major competitions are: the VNL, Olympic Games, World Championships, World Cup, World League and Grand Champions Cup.
• Japan have won only three of their last 21 world level major encounters with Bulgaria: 3-2 at the 2002 world championship and 3-1 and 3-2 victories at the 2009 World League.
• Bulgaria have won each of their last four world level major matches against Japan, all at the 2011 World League.
• At the 1972 Olympic Games, Japan defeated Bulgaria 3-2 in the semifinals on their way to their only Olympic title in the men's volleyball.
Japan• Japan have won three and lost three of their six matches at the 2018 VNL.
• Japan defeated Korea 3-2 in their final fixture of week 2. Since the start of 2016, Japan have won consecutive matches at a world level major tournament only once: four successive victories at the 2017 World League.
• All three victories for Japan at the VNL came against fellow Asian sides: versus Australia, Iran and Korea.
• Japan have both scored and conceded exactly 556 points. They are one of three teams to have played a tournament high 25 sets in the VNL, alongside USA and Serbia.
• Yuji Nishida is Japan's top scorer in the VNL on 83 points.
• Against RKorea, Tatsuya Fukuzawa was Japan's highest scorer on 19 points. Nishida netted 16 points against the Koreans.
Bulgaria
• Bulgaria have won two of their six matches at the VNL, 3-2 against Argentina and 3-1 against China.
• In week 2, Bulgaria failed to win any of their three matches including straight set defeats against Australia and Russia in their last two matches.
• Only once, Bulgaria failed to win a set in three consecutive matches in world level major competitions: in 1996, Bulgaria lost 3-0 against Netherlands (twice, World League) and Cuba (Olympic Games).
• Nikolay Uchikov is the fourth-highest scorer in the 2018 VNL on 91 points. No other player has scored more than 55 points representing Bulgaria.
• Only Russia's Dmitriy Muserskiy (16) has scored more points from stuff blocks than Viktor Yosifov (15) and Svetoslav Gotsev (14).
• Todor Skrimov has scored 12 points from serving in the VNL, more than any other player.