The Bulgarian national team lost to world champion Germany 85:94 (21:28, 14:34, 22:13, 28:19) as a guest in Bamberg in the final round of Group D of the qualifiers and failed to qualify for the European Men's Championship. The Bulgarians needed a victory over their classy opponent to earn a visa for the upcoming championship in September. With the defeat, the national team remained in the last fourth place in the group standings with two wins and four losses, BTA reported.
In the other match in the group, Sweden and Montenegro play a continuation match after the regular time ended in a draw 72:72 (20:14, 12:19, 21:18, 19:21), but the result is no longer relevant for the Bulgarian team's EuroBasket 2025 ranking, as the Swedes have an advantage in the direct matches, and the first three teams in the group will play in the championship.
Despite being without their big star Alexander Vezenkov and the naturalized American Cody Miller-McIntyre, who helped the team win over Sweden in the previous match of the Euroqualifications, the Bulgarian national team played a strong match against the world champions and reduced the hosts' lead in Bamberg to 5 points in the last minutes.
The coach Rosen Barchovski chose Konstantin Toshkov, Pavliv Ivanov, Yordan Minchev, Georgi Boyanov and Konstantin Kostadinov to start against Germany.
The start was more than excellent for the Bulgarian team, which at one point in the first quarter had an 8-point lead. With accurate shots from Toshkov, Boyanov and Kostadinov, Bulgaria led 13:5 in the opening three and a half minutes, and after a goal from Konstantin Toshkov, the national team's lead became 17:10 with four and a half minutes remaining in the first period. However, a great 16:0 series for the hosts followed and they turned it around to 26:17 before Ivan Alipiev stopped this series with a three-pointer 47 seconds before the end of the period. After 10 minutes of play, the Bulgarian national team was trailing by 21:28.
The Bulgarians did not score a basket three minutes after the resumption of play in the second quarter, and during that time the world champions from Germany pulled ahead by 41:21. Pavlin Ivanov scored from long range for 24:41 less than seven minutes before the break. In the remaining time until the end of the first half, the German basketball players completely controlled the game, and their lead reached 27 points to reach a 62:35 lead at the break.
The hosts remained leading in the score in the third period, but the national team managed to catch up with some of their deficit. A basket by Dimitar Dimitrov reduced the deficit to under 20 points - 52:71, followed by a three-pointer by Konstantin Toshkov and a goal by Iliyan Pishchikov for 56:71 with a minute and a half left in the third period.
Before the last 10 minutes, the German team led 75:57, and with six minutes left, the score was 87:66. Strong performances by the Bulgarian national team, three consecutive three-pointers by Pavlin Ivanov and Konstantin Toshkov and accurate shots by Dimitar Dimitrov and again by Toshkov brought them only 5 points closer to the opponent at 82:87 three minutes before the end of the match. The hosts responded with three free throws for 90:82, and Konstantin Kostadinov scored in the German basket, making the score 84:90 with a minute and 45 seconds remaining.
After a long review of the situation, an unsportsmanlike foul was called on Johannes Foitmann, and Kostadinov scored from the penalty line for 85:90. In the counterattack, however, Foitmann scored from long range, and Daniel Theis scored a free throw, increasing the hosts' lead to 94:85, which was the final score in the match.
The most productive player for Bulgaria was captain Pavlin Ivanov with 17 points and 6 assists.