Bulgaria national rugby union team

The Bulgaria national rugby union team is governed by the Bulgarian Rugby Federation, and has yet to qualify for the Rugby World Cup.

Bulgaria

Union	Bulgarian Rugby Federation
Head coach	Romain Balmisse (FRA)
Captain	Petar Nikolov
First colours
World Rugby ranking
Current	67 (as of 4 November 2024)
Highest	59 (16 January 2023)
Lowest	67 (4 November 2024)
First international
Bulgaria 3 - 70 Romania  (1963-5-20)
Biggest win
Bulgaria 71 - 7 Serbia  (2019-10-12)
Biggest defeat
Bulgaria 0 - 100 Romania  (1976-9-21)

The national side is ranked 67th in the world (as of 4 November 2024).^[1]

History

Main article: Rugby union in Bulgaria

Bulgaria played their first rugby international in 1963, where they met Romania. They were defeated by the Romanians, 70-3. There was no qualifying tournament held for the first Rugby World Cup, and Bulgaria did not attempt to qualify for the tournament until the Welsh hosted the 1999 Rugby World Cup. They competed in Pool 2 of Round A, but did not advance to the next stage.

Bulgaria again tried to qualify for the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia, and competed in Pool B of Round 1. Although Bulgaria won one pool match, they did not advance to Round 2. For the 2007 Rugby World Cup, Bulgaria were able to advance past Round 1, and entered Pool D of Round 2. However, they were then knocked out of the qualifying tournament.

World Cup record

World Cup record
Year	Round	P	W	D	L	F	A
1987	Not invited
1991	Did not enter
1995
1999	Did not qualify
2003
2007
2011
2015
2019
Total	0/9	-	-	-	-	-	-

Overall Record

Below is a table of the representative rugby matches played by a Bulgaria national XV at test level up until 4 October 2025, updated after match with  Turkey.

Against	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn	Win percentage
Andorra	6	4	2	0	66.67%
Armenia	1	0	1	0	0%
Austria	3	1	2	0	33.33%
Croatia	1	0	1	0	0%
Cyprus	5	0	5	0	0%
Denmark	1	1	0	0	100%
Finland	9	8	1	0	88.89%
Germany	1	0	1	0	0%
Hungary	4	0	4	0	0%
Israel	6	2	4	0	33.33%
Latvia	1	0	1	0	0%
Lithuania	5	0	4	1	0%
Luxembourg	9	7	2	0	77.78%
Malta	3	1	2	0	33.33%
Moldova	2	1	1	0	50%
Monaco	3	0	3	0	0%
Netherlands	1	0	1	0	0%
Norway	5	3	2	0	60%
Poland	1	0	1	0	0%
Romania	2	0	2	0	0%
Serbia	5	4	1	0	80%
Serbia and Montenegro	1	0	1	0	0%
Slovenia	5	3	2	0	60%
Slovakia	2	2	0	0	100%
Switzerland	5	0	5	0	0%
Turkey	7	5	2	0	66.67%
Yugoslavia	3	0	3	0	0%
Total	97	42	54	1	43.3%

Recent Squad

Previous squad

Squad to 2019 European Nations Cup - Division 2D.^[2]

Georgi Gidionov Dimo Dimov Dimitar Georgiev Vladi Mihov Alex Tenev Tsvetomir Stoyanov Iliya Krastev Nikolay Hinov Denis Ivanov Borislav Borisov Kostadin Petkov Vasil Borisov Petar Nikolov (c) Tsvetostin Tsvetkov Ivailo Petrov Ivailo Ivanov Kristian Kotsev Kristian Pavlov Ricardo Attye Tsvetan Rashev Hristo Georgiev Smilko Debrenliev Deyan Parvanov Dimitar Kotsev Victor Iliev

See also

• Rugby union in Bulgaria

External links

• RugbyBulgaria.com Сайтът за Ръгби в България
• Bulgaria national rugby union team Archived 2016-02-20 at the Wayback Machine Fixtures and Results
• Bulgaria on "World Rugby"
• Bulgaria Archived 2016-08-17 at the Wayback Machine on RugbyData.com
• Murphy's Misfits Archived 2011-08-22 at the Wayback Machine Social Rugby in Bulgaria
• Barbarians Sofia Barbarians Sofia Rugby Club