Varna, Bulgaria, September 14, 2018 - Co-hosts of the 2018 FIVB World Championship Bulgaria need a win Friday over Puerto Rico, after losing on Thursday to Iran in four sets. The Caribbean side are still after their first win in the competition, following defeats to Iran and Poland. The only time the two have previously gone head-to-head was at the 2007 FIVB World Cup when the Balkan side won in four sets.
Head-to-Head
• Bulgaria and Puerto Rico will play each other for the first time at a World Championship. Their only previous meeting in a world level major tournament came in the World Cup.
• The world level major tournaments are Olympic Games, World Championship, World Cup, World League, Grand Champions Cup and Nations League.
• Bulgaria beat Puerto Rico 3-1 in Matsumoto in the 2007 World Cup. The Puerto Ricans had claimed the opening set. The Bulgarians went on to finish third in the tournament, while Puerto Rico were sixth.
Bulgaria
• After winning their opening match 3-0 against Finland, Bulgaria suffered their first defeat at the 2018 World Championship, falling 3-1 to Iran.
• In 2014, Bulgaria also started with a win and a defeat, before winning their third match in straight sets against China.
• Valentin Bratoev and Nikolay Uchikov scored a joint match-high 13 points in Bulgaria's straight-set victory over Finland, while Todor Skrimov set the pace against Iran with 17 points.
• Four players reached double figures for Bulgaria against Iran: Skrimov (17), Uchikov, Viktor Yosifov and Nikolay Penchev (10 each).
Puerto Rico
• Puerto Rico started their World Championship with 3-0 defeats against Iran and Poland.
• In 2014, Puerto Rico lost their first three World Championship matches, all in straight sets, before they collected their only win of that tournament, 3-1 against Italy.
• Including the last match of the 2014 tournament, Puerto Rico have lost three World Championship matches in a row with a 3-0 score. This could be four straight for the second time, after they lost their first eight in their debut World Championship in 1974.
• Maurice Torres was Puerto Rico's top scorer in both 2018 World Championship matches, with 10 points against Iran and eight against Poland.