Manuel Zlatanov earns U17 Worlds’ MVP honour

Manuel Zlatanov, outside hitter and captain of the newly crowned inaugural U17 boys’ volleyball champions Italy, was awarded as the Most Valuable Player of the first FIVB Volleyball Boys’ U17 World Championship that came to a conclusion in Sofia on Saturday. This was Zlatanov’s second major individual award, after he was named on the Dream Team of the 2024 CEV U18 Volleyball European Championship, also in Bulgaria, where Italy claimed the silver. These honours are a clear recognition that young Zlatanov is already following in the footsteps of his legendary grandfather Dimitar Zlatanov, named Bulgaria’s Player of the 20^th Century, and his prominent father Hristo Zlatanov, who was among the big stars of the Italian SuperLega and the Italian national team for many years.

• Watch FIVB Volleyball Boys’ U17 World Championship replays free of charge on VBTV

Manuel Zlatanov also led a line-up of seven stars in the making, who were recognized on the symbolic U17 World Championship Dream Team during the awarding ceremony at the end of the tournament in the Bulgarian capital on Saturday evening:

Best Setter: Pietro Valgiovio (Italy)
Best Opposite: Federico Argano (Italy)
Best Outside Hitters: Manuel Zlatanov (Italy) and Huang Pin-Yen (Chinese Taipei)
Best Middle Blockers: Ivan Pavon (Argentina) and Martino Bigozzi (Italy)
Best Libero: Valentin Yapura (Argentina)

In addition to being the captain and a true leader of his team, Manuel Zlatanov was also Italy’s best scorer of the championship. Across the squad’s seven matches played in Sofia, the 2.03m-tall outside tallied a total of 129 points, including 13 aces, 12 kill blocks and 104 kills in attack. He was also the best server of the tournament.

“I am so proud of this group again, because we suffered through the final match and never gave up,” Zlatanov told the FIVB. “I love this group and this gold medal is perfect for it. The MVP award is just a bonus to this gold medal, which is what I really wanted. The whole squad helped me to earn this award.”

Statistical chart-toppers (view all)
Best scorer: Huang Pin-Yen (Chinese Taipei) - 185 points
Best attacker: Huang Pin-Yen (Chinese Taipei) - 166 spike kills
Best blocker: Ahmed Amer Abo Gabal (Egypt) - 26 kill blocks
Best server: Manuel Zlatanov (Italy) - 13 aces each
Best setter: Shantia Behnejad (Iran) - 46 successful sets
Best digger: Alex Menekbi (Spain) - 102 digs
Best receiver: Yahia Ben Hassine (Tunisia) - 52 excellent receptions

Top individual scoring performances
40 points - Huang Pin-Yen (Chinese Taipei) v Bulgaria on August 25
32 points - Theo da Silva Schrank (Brazil) v Chinese Taipei on August 29
31 points - Huang Pin-Yen (Chinese Taipei) v Brazil on August 29
30 points - Rafel Tugores (Spain) v Belgium on August 29
30 points - Huang Pin-Yen (Chinese Taipei) v Spain on August 31

Top individual blocking performances
9 kill blocks - Ayoub Al Baghdadi (Libya) v Mexico on August 31
8 kill blocks - Ahmed Amer Abo Gabal (Egypt) v Argentina on August 29
7 kill blocks - Jose Manuel Pastor (Spain) v Chinese Taipei on August 26
7 kill blocks - Dimitar Peychinov (Bulgaria) v Mexico on August 26
7 kill blocks - Martino Bigozzi (Italy) v Mexico on August 27

Top individual serving performances
5 aces - Kamyab Abdollahifar (Iran) v Libya on August 24
5 aces - Mohammadraouf Khoshhaldashliboroun (Iran) v Chile on August 27
5 aces - Jannes Strobbe (Belgium) v Egypt on August 30
4 aces - Ahmed Amer Abo Gabal (Egypt) v Libya on August 25
4 aces - Muezbillah Balnnour (Libya) v Tunisia on August 26
4 aces - Aleksandar Dobrev (Bulgaria) v Argentina on August 27
4 aces - Rafel Tugores (Spain) v Belgium on August 29
4 aces - Andy Marrero (Cuba) v Libya on August 30
4 aces - Manuel Zlatanov (Italy) v Chinese Taipei on August 30
4 aces - Petko Petkov (Bulgaria) v Cuba on August 31

Top team blocking performances
20 kill blocks - Bulgaria v Mexico on August 26
19 kill blocks - Belgium v Spain on August 29
18 kill blocks - Egypt v Iran on August 26
18 kill blocks - Spain v Chinese Taipei on August 31
17 kill blocks - Libya v Mexico on August 31

Top team serving performances
11 aces - Iran v Libya on August 24
10 aces - Iran v Tunisia on August 25
10 aces - Bulgaria v Argentina on August 27
10 aces - Iran v Chile on August 27

Highest scoring matches
229 points - Bulgaria v Chinese Taipei 3-2 (32-30, 21-25, 25-23, 23-25, 15-10) on August 25
225 points - Italy v Argentina 3-2 (23-25, 17-25, 25-22, 33-31, 15-9) on August 31
224 points - Argentina v Spain 3-2 (25-21, 17-25, 33-35, 25-18, 15-10) on August 30
219 points - Brazil v Chinese Taipei 2-3 (26-24, 21-25, 23-25, 25-22, 13-15) on August 29
215 points - Iran v Egypt 2-3 (19-25, 22-25, 25-19, 27-25, 13-15) on August 26

Longest matches (combined set durations)
127 minutes - Italy v Iran on August 29
126 minutes - Argentina v Spain on August 30
125 minutes - Argentina v Egypt on August 29
124 minutes - Brazil v Chinese Taipei on August 29
124 minutes - Italy v Argentina on August 31

Highest set scores
33-35 - Argentina v Spain third set on August 30
32-34 - Brazil v Egypt third set on August 31
33-31 - Italy v Argentina fourth set on August 31
32-30 - Bulgaria v Chinese Taipei first set on August 25
30-28 - Iran v Libya third set on August 24

Longest sets
40 minutes - Argentina v Spain third set on August 30
37 minutes - Italy v Argentina fourth set on August 31
34 minutes - Brazil v Egypt third set on August 31
33 minutes - Italy v Iran fourth set on August 29
32 minutes - Belgium v Spain third set on August 29

FIVB Volleyball Boys’ U17 World Championship: all results

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