Bulgaria sweeps Germany after epic 40-38 first set

After a grueling, extended opening set, world no. 16 Bulgaria pulled off an upset over world no. 8 Germany, 40-38, 25-22, 25-20, in the 2025 FIVB Men’s World Championship on Saturday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

The first set alone lasted 43 minutes, as both teams slugged it out in a back-and-forth battle for the early advantage.

Germany reached set point first at 24-23 following an attack by György Grozer, but Aleksandar Nikolov responded to tie the score and extend the set.

What followed was a tight exchange, with both squads refusing to let up until the score reached 38-all.

Germany then challenged for a block touch, but the review was deemed unsuccessful, giving Bulgaria the edge. Nikolov eventually sealed the set with an attack, as the Germans had a fault on set point.

Nikolov scored 15 of his game-high 28 points in that first set alone, anchored by 24 total attacks.

Riding the momentum, Bulgaria went on to dominate the next two sets to complete the sweep.

“I don’t think it could’ve been any better. A 3-0 win against a contender coming out of the group is great. We’re super happy, but we’ve accomplished nothing yet,” said Nikolov in a post-match interview, adding that they now need to prepare for their next game against Slovenia.

Grozer paced Germany with 13 points in the loss.

Earlier in the day, world no. 24 Portugal stunned world no. 11 Cuba, 20-25, 25-22, 25-19, 25-19, while the United States swept Colombia, 25-20, 25-21, 25-14.

Meanwhile, Slovenia capped the day's events with a straight sets victory against Chile, 25-19, 25-20, 25-16.

—JKC, GMA Integrated News