site.btaVolleyball Player Aleksandar Nikolov Named Athlete of Sofia for 2025

National volleyball player Aleksandar Nikolov was named Athlete of Sofia for 2025 in the third edition of the poll, organized among ten reputable Bulgarian sports journalists, whose votes were published on sofia2018.bg on Tuesday. Each of the journalists named their top three athletes for the past year, with 5 points awarded for first place, 3 for second, and 1 for third.

The 22-year-old top scorer at the 2025 FIVB Men's Volleyball World Championship placed first in more than half of the journalists' rankings and collected 36 points, ahead of alpine ski racer Albert Popov with 21 points. Third with a total of 16 points was 20-year-old snowboarder Tervel Zamfirov.

Nikolov earned recognition for his scoring qualities at the World Championships, where the Bulgarian national team won silver medals and caused a wave of joy among the nation.

Popov recorded his first career victory at the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup 2024/2025 at the slalom in Madonna di Campiglio in January 2025, in addition to several top-10 finishes during the season, helping him to a 12th place in the final standings.

Zamfirov won a gold medal in the parallel slalom event at the 2025 Snowboarding World Championships, becoming the first Bulgarian to win a world title in the discipline. He also won three gold medals from the Snowboarding World Youth Championship in 2025.

Rhythmic gymnast Stiliana Nikolova ranked fourth in the poll, Formula 2 racing driver Nikola Tsolov came fifth, and sixth place went to 15-year-old snowboarder Malena Zamfirova, who is the sister of third-placed Tervel Zamfirov. Tennis player Alexander Vasilev and fencer Yoana Ilieva shared seventh place.

The award ceremony will traditionally take place at the Museum of Sports in Sofia, with the date to be in accordance with the competition and training programme of the prizewinners.