Bulgarians have money for cigarettes, but not for sports

Friday, Nov 28, 2025

Mediapool

Bulgaria achieves sports success despite scandals, maintaining its national sporting identity while lacking a strong sports industry.

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[This is an automatically generated summary, for reference only]

Despite occasional scandals, Bulgaria continues to achieve significant sporting successes and maintains its reputation as a sports nation, evidenced by achievements such as silver medals at the national volleyball team’s World Championship, world records and titles from Carlos Nazar in weightlifting, gymnastics accomplishments, and seven Olympic medals from Paris last summer. However, Bulgarians tend to spend little on sports, preferring alcohol and cigarettes, and the sports industry is not a key part of the Bulgarian economy.

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