Bulgarians led Poles to tears. A nightmare match in Ergo Arena
The Tri -City Ergo Arena witnessed many volleyball events. In addition to a large dose of positive ones, they were also bad, e.g. against … the Bulgarian national team.
European Championships in 2013. Built on the border of Gdańsk and Sopot Ergo Arena, about a kilometer from the shoreline of the Gulf of Gdańsk, it smelled new. Finally, its official opening took place relatively recently, two years earlier (2011).
Matches of Polish volleyball players regularly attracted thousands of supporters to the stands. The European Championships, organized jointly by Poland and Denmark, at the end of September, were to be another opportunity for a large sports holiday. However, as it turned out, instead of the joy of the success of Poles, there was mainly … a lot of disgust.
Poland – Bulgaria. A nightmarish memory of ergo arena volleyballers
Polish volleyballers four years earlier (2009) reached for the gold medal. Since then, however, has changed a bit, and the team led by Andrea Anastasi, although still with experienced players in their ranks, had ups and downs. It was an end of the Italian coach in white and red colors. Hardly anyone remembered about the Golden Medal of the World League (2012), because the shadow on that term was mainly the next Olympic disappointment – the losing the quarter -final of the London Games. What, as history shows, managed to break down only … 12 years later.
Poles, after two group wins with Turkey and Slovakia (both after 3: 1) and defeat with France (also in four sets, 1: 3), went to the play-off before the quarter-finals. There, it came to face Bulgaria. Bulgarians also scored group games in the Tri -City (Poles in Ergo Arena), only in Gdynia. They took third place, winning with the Czechs (3: 1) and losing to Germany (2: 3) and Russia (1: 3).
On September 24, 2013, for the first less than an hour, everything in the Ergo Arena was arranged as if the hosts were to win. 2: 0 in sets (25:22 and 25:22), after which the next two sets lost unexpectedly. First 20:25, and then for the advantage, 24:26. Who doesn’t win 2: 0, loses 2: 3? Unfortunately, this volleyball truth again had its confirmation on the pitch …
However, Poles in a tie-break were already leading 13:11 and hardly anyone expected them to get a win. Volleyball, however, can play various tricks and eventually ended in sad 16:18 from the perspective of Poles. The hosts fell off the tournament, tears and fans appeared in the eyes of the players, the tournament has just come to an end. At least for the Polish part of the volleyball world, because the Bulgarians managed to finally reach the best four tournament, throwing in the quarter -finals of the Germans (3: 1) – successfully revealing a defeat in the group stage. In the semi -final – already in Copenhagen – Bulgaria lost 1: 3 to Italy, and for third place it turned out to be weaker than Serbia, in three sets.
The composition of Poles from that match from 12 years ago? Piotr Nowakowski and Marcin Możdżonek in the middle, playmaker Łukasz Zygadło, at the party Michał Winiarski and Bartosz Kurek, in the attack Grzegorz Bociek and Paweł Zatorski on the libero. Especially Bociek shone, who was only 22 years old at the time. The attacker scored as many as 26 points, but this was not enough to provide the hosts to enter the best eight of ME 2013.
On the other side, the space match was played by Tsvetan Sokołow, author of 35 points (!) For the Bulgarian team.
Paradoxically, since then, Polish volleyball has chosen the opposite to Bulgarian. A year later, Poland won the gold of the World Championships and started a beautiful decade of successes, with the last Olympic silver. Bulgaria after years of collapse and generational change, now it is reborn and again begins to knock on the gates again, where the greatest ones are already. With Polish volleyball players, for a long time at the head of the FIVB ranking.
VNL 2025 tournament in Ergo Arena. When and with whom will Polish volleyball players play?
The Polish national team in Ergo Arena will play two more matches.
On Saturday (i.e. July 19) he will face – how differently – with Bulgaria (17:00), and on Sunday, to close the struggle in the Tri -City, a clash with the Olympic champions – French (20:30). In the latter case, it will be a kind of rematch for the IO 2024 final, maintaining all proportions of the seriousness of the League of Nations.
All VNL 2025 volleyball matches in the Tri -City Ergo Arena are and will be shown on Polsat Sport channels. In addition, broadcasts in the internet version can be followed via the Polsat Box Go platform.
