Bulgaria men's national ice hockey team

The Bulgarian national ice hockey team (Bulgarian: Национален отбор по хокей на лед на България, Natsionalen otbor po khokeĭ na led na Bŭlgariya) is the national men's ice hockey team of Bulgaria. The team is controlled by the Bulgarian Ice Hockey Federation and a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). As of 2018, Bulgaria is ranked 38th in the IIHF World Ranking and competes in Division III of the Ice Hockey World Championships.
The team has participated once at the Olympic Winter Games. This happened in Innsbruck in 1976, when Bulgaria fell to the Czechoslovak team 14–1 in the first round. After a few more losses the team finished last in the tournament.
Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, hosted the games of Division II, Group B of the 2009 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships. Bulgaria's opponents at the tournament were Belgium, Mexico, Spain, South Africa and South Korea. In 2011, Bulgaria was also in Division II, with Croatia, Romania, China, Ireland and Iceland.
Historically, the team has played in the second highest level four times, with their highest placement being 14th in 1970. However, the only year that they ever earned promotion (by placing 1st or 2nd in Pool C) was in 1975, which also qualified them for the 1976 Olympics. The only year that they won any games in Pool B was 1992 (at that time it was contested between nations ranked 13th to 20th), defeating Japan, China and Yugoslavia.
Goaltender Konstantin Mihailov played in 28 Ice Hockey World Championships with Bulgaria, and was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2019, as a recipient of the Torriani Award to recognize his international hockey career.
==World Championship record==
thumb|right|The Bulgarian national team during a qualification match for the 2006 Winter Olympics in 2004.
Year	City 	Country 	Result
1963	Stockholm 	Sweden 	4th place in Group C (19th)
1967	Vienna 	Austria 	Bronze in Group C (19th)
1969	Skopje 	Yugoslavia 	5th place in Group C (19th)
1970	Bucharest 	Romania 	8th place in Group B (14th)
1971	Several cities 	the Netherlands	5th place in Group C (19th)
1972	Miercurea Ciuc 	Romania 	4th place in Group C (17th)
1973	six cities 	the Netherlands	4th place in Group C (18th)
1974	Grenoble, Gap, Lyon 	France 	Bronze in Group C (17th)
1975	Sofia 	Bulgaria 	Silver in Group C (16th)
1976	Aarau and Biel/Bienne 	Switzerland 	8th place in Group B (16th)
1977	Copenhagen and Hørsholm 	Denmark 	Bronze in Group C (20th)
1978	Las Palmas 	Spain 	5th place in Group C (21st)
1979	Barcelona 	Spain 	4th place in Group C (22nd)
1981	Beijing 	China 	6th place in Group C (22nd)
1982	Jaca 	Spain 	6th place in Group C (22nd)
1983	Budapest 	Hungary 	6th place in Group C (22nd)
1985	Megève, Chamonix, Saint-Gervais	France 	6th place in Group C (22nd)
1986	Puigcerdà 	Spain 	Bronze in Group C (19th)
1987	Copenhagen, Herlev, Hørsholm 	Denmark 	7th place in Group C (23rd)
1989	Sydney 	Australia 	5th place in Group C (21st)
1990	Budapest 	Hungary 	6th place in Group C (22nd)
1991	Brøndby Municipality 	Denmark 	4th place in Group C (20th)
1992	Klagenfurt 	Austria 	5th place in Group B (17th)
1993	Eindhoven 	the Netherlands	8th place in Group B (20th)
1994	Poprad and Spišská Nová Ves 	Slovakia 	7th place in Group C1 (27th)
1995	Sofia 	Bulgaria 	9th place in Group C1 (29th)
1996	Kaunas and Elektrėnai 	Lithuania 	6th place in Group D (34th)
1997	Canillo 	Andorra 	7th place in Group D (35th)
1998	Krugersdorp and Pretoria 	South Africa 	Gold in Group D (33rd)
1999	Eindhoven Tilburg 	South Africa 	8th place in Group C (32nd)
2000	Beijing 	China 	9th place in Group C (33rd)
2001	Bucharest 	Romania 	4th in Division II Group B (35th)
2002	Novi Sad 	Yugoslavia 	4th in Division II Group B (35th)
2003	Sofia 	Bulgaria 	Bronze in Division II Group B (34th)
2004	Elektrėnai 	Lithuania 	4th in Division II Group B (36th)
2005	Zagreb 	Croatia 	4th in Division II Group A (35th)
2006	Sofia 	Bulgaria 	Silver in Division II Group A (32nd)
2007	Zagreb 	Croatia 	5th in Division II Group A (38th)
2008	Miercurea Ciuc 	Romania 	5th in Division II Group A (38th)
2009	Sofia 	Bulgaria 	4th in Division II Group B (36th)
2010	Naucalpan 	Mexico 	4th in Division II Group A (35th)
2011	Zagreb 	Croatia 	5th in Division II Group B (38th)
2012	Sofia 	Bulgaria 	Bronze in Division II Group B (37th)
2013	İzmit 	Turkey 	6th in Division II Group B (40th)
2014	Luxembourg 	Luxembourg 	Gold in Division III (41st)
2015	Cape Town 	South Africa 	4th in Division II Group B (38th)
2016	Mexico City 	Mexico 	6th in Division II Group B (40th)
2017	Sofia 	Bulgaria 	Silver in Division III (42nd)
2018	Cape Town 	South Africa 	Silver in Division III (42nd)
2019	Sofia 	Bulgaria 	Gold in Division III (41st)
2020	Reykjavík 	Iceland 	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021	Reykjavík 	Iceland 	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2022	Reykjavík 	Iceland 	4th in Division II Group B (35th)
2023	Istanbul 	Turkey 	Bronze in Division II Group B (37th)
2024	Sofia 	Bulgaria 	4th in Division II Group B (38th)
==All-time record==
As of 23 April 2023.
Opponent	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	GF 	GA 	GD
 	11 	6 	2 	3 	60 	57 	+3
 	10 	1 	1 	8 	18 	58 	-40
 	21 	11 	1 	9 	123 	90 	+33
 	1 	0 	0 	1 	1 	13 	-12
 	1 	1 	0 	0 	5 	0 	+5
 	22 	5 	2 	15 	69 	114 	-45
 	3 	3 	0 	0 	21 	4 	+17
 	7 	1 	0 	6 	16 	72 	-56
 	1 	0 	0 	1 	1 	14 	−13
 	32 	11 	2 	19 	88 	137 	-49
 	2 	0 	0 	2 	1 	37 	-36
 	2 	0 	0 	2 	4 	21 	-17
 	29 	9 	2 	18 	89 	156 	-67
 	5 	3 	0 	2 	43 	20 	+23
 	8 	6 	1 	1 	47 	36 	+11
 	1 	0 	0 	1 	1 	13 	-12
 	3 	3 	0 	0 	26 	4 	+22
 	47 	10 	1 	36 	147 	253 	-106
 	4 	3 	0 	1 	15 	17 	-2
 	2 	2 	0 	0 	13 	4 	+9
 	11 	3 	2 	6 	36 	50 	-14
 	10 	1 	0 	9 	22 	55 	-33
 	11 	3 	0 	8 	29 	66 	-37
 	2 	0 	0 	2 	1 	39 	-38
 	3 	0 	0 	3 	3 	26 	-23
 	4 	3 	0 	1 	36 	17 	+19
 	11 	6 	0 	5 	61 	57 	+4
 	17 	3 	1 	13 	51 	110 	-59
 	7 	4 	0 	3 	50 	41 	+9
 	16 	10 	1 	5 	76 	43 	-33
 	5 	0 	1 	4 	11 	31 	-20
 	2 	0 	0 	2 	2 	27 	-25
 	40 	4 	2 	34 	91 	249 	-158
 	3 	0 	0 	3 	3 	25 	-22
 	11 	2 	2 	7 	31 	54 	-23
 	1 	0 	0 	1 	0 	20 	-20
 	2 	0 	0 	2 	1 	27 	-26
 	7 	7 	0 	0 	53 	10 	+43
 	9 	5 	0 	4 	53 	48 	+5
 	15 	8 	1 	6 	74 	63 	+11
 	5 	0 	0 	5 	9 	32 	-23
 	10 	8 	0 	2 	76 	25 	+51
 	1 	1 	0 	0 	6 	2 	+4
 	2 	1 	0 	1 	13 	12 	+1
 	2 	0 	0 	2 	0 	48 	-48
 	1 	0 	0 	1 	1 	19 	−18
 	21 	5 	2 	14 	67 	121 	-54
Total 	441 	149	24 	268 	1 642	2 437	-795
==References==
==External links== 
*IIHF profile
Category:National ice hockey teams in Europe