Unlike most of the countries in the world Bulgaria is not that into basketball. Their attention is mostly on football (soccer), volleyball and wrestling.
Although basketball is not that widespread in Bulgaria there are still a lot of clubs and organizations created that shows that basketball is loved by the citizens there too. Even if basketball in Bulgaria is not that popular the basketball teams still continue to play basketball and embrace the sport more rather than being discouraged by the reality they are facing.
Instead of having second thoughts whether to continue playing basketball or not, what they did was that they continue to play and become more determined to become successful in their profession. They believe that by being more focused, disciplined and aggressive in playing basketball their hard work will all pay off and by that they may be able to make their fellow countrymen love the sport they play.
To promote the sport in the country, different leagues were formed so that different teams will be able to showcase their basketball skills to other people, which probably will attract the young ones and the interested ones to play the said sport.
The highest professional basketball league in Bulgaria is the Bulgarian National Basketball League, and some of the teams in the said league are the following: Balkan, Chernomorets, Euroins Cherno More, Levski Sofia, Lukoil Academic, Rilski Sportist, Spartak Pleven, and Yambol.
The Bulgarian National Basketball League was just formed recently, specifically in the year 2008, which only proves that basketball was not really a hit in Bulgaria in the past few decades, unlike the other countries which started playing basketball in the early 1920’s. Although they are not that in to the sport, the effort of some organizations and the government should be appreciated because of their promotion of basketball to the country.
Basketball in Bulgaria up to now is having a hard time to become popular yet little by little basketball is being embraced by the citizens there. The formation of the Bulgarian National Basketball Team, which represents their country in different international basketball events, was one of the strategies that were made so that the people of Bulgaria will get to know the sport more, and for them not to exclusively set their minds in supporting only the national teams of football, volleyball and wrestling.
The Bulgarian National Basketball team, which is composed of two teams: the Bulgarian National Men’s Basketball Team and the Bulgarian National Women’s Basketball team participated in the international leagues that qualify them to play, and by participating internationally, the Bulgarians started to notice the team, and not just solely the team, but also basketball itself.
I think one reason why basketball became more known in the country is because of the achievements they had gained in the past years thru competing internationally. The Bulgarian National Basketball Team was very visible in international competitions, they had played aggressively and had won a silver medal, and they had also achieved high ranks in Eurobasket Leagues which made the citizens of Bulgaria be aware of the sport basketball.
Bulgarian National Team Achievements