At a meeting, the Board of BF Rugby appointed the new coach and staff of the Rugby 15 national team. BF Rugby, with full continuity of what has been achieved so far and the retention of most of the national team’s staff, took the following decisions:
Ivaylo Ivanov was appointed head coach of the Rugby 15 national team.
Ivaylo Ivanov was born on 23.09.1987 in the town of Gabrovo; he is married and a father of two children. A national competitor until 2024 and a rugby coach with a long and rich career both in France and in Bulgaria. He has over 200 matches in the French championship, has played 29 matches for the Bulgarian national team, and is the national team’s top scorer.
Main achievements
• Two-time champion of Normandy in Rugby 7s (France)
• Playing coach of the national Rugby 7s team for 7 years
• Victory at the European Championship – Conference 1 and promotion to the elite “Trophy” division
• Participation in the “Trophy” division for 4 consecutive years – Bulgaria’s strongest showing in this format
• Graduated from the NSA “Vasil Levski” – rugby coach
• Holds a French coaching diploma – “Federal” level
Ivaylo Ivanov presented his concept, based on belief in the strength of the collective, the development of young talents and a long-term vision for the development of rugby in Bulgaria, through:
• Modern training methods
• Development of coaching capacity
• A strong connection between the clubs and the national teams
Coaching staff
• Karlen Asienshvili (Georgia) – Assistant coach, former national competitor of Georgia, participant at the 2019 Rugby World Cup, professional player in the Top 14 in France and best prop for the 2021 season
• Nikolay Kostadinov – Resource manager – conditioning coach (from the previous national team staff)
• Darina Zaharieva – Physiotherapist (from the previous national team staff)
• Paul Luby – Physiotherapist (from the previous national team staff)
• Stefan Popov – Equipment manager
• Maya Ilieva – Organisational manager (from the previous national team staff)
• Nikolay Kyuchukov – communications
