World Cyber Games on Bulgarian ground

Bulgaria is one of the countries that have made considerable contribution to the development and popularizing of the World Cyber Games as a real festival of digital culture. Even though Bulgaria did not participate in the pioneer WCG in the year 2000, since 2001 our country has not missed the annual gamers’ Olympics and our representatives traditionally defend their good achievements in the world rank list.

The national WCG representative for Bulgaria between 2001 and 2003 was Headoff G.I.

WCG 2001 Bulgaria

The first Bulgarian WCG was held in several computer clubs. After the challenging qualifications 14 people, competing in Counter-Strike, StarCraft, Unreal Tournament, Age of Empires, FIFA and Quake III went to the finals in Korea. Even though we didn’t qualify in the top ten, Dimitar Alexandrov, a StarCraft player, won the first fairplay reward for Bulgaria.

WCG 2002 Bulgaria

Nine Bulgarian gamers went to Daejong, Korea to represent Bulgaria at the WCG 2002 Grand Final. The games they competed in were StarCraft, Counter-Strike, Age of Empires and Quake III. The team returned with no medal, but the players gathered valuable experience and self-confidence which proved extremely useful in years ahead.

WCG 2003 Bulgaria

2003 is the golden year for the Bulgarian cyber sport. After the preliminaries 15 players flew to Seoul, Korea. They competed in Age of Empires, Warcraft III, Counter-Strike, StarCraft and Unreal Tournament. Our country became seventh in the final team rank list with Zdravko Georgiev’s WarCraft III gold medal. This great success proved a powerful stimulus for all Bulgarian gamers dreaming of worldwide performance.

Since 2004 the Bulgarian WCG organising is being done by the Bulgarian Federation of Electronic Sport – the first officially registered sport organization for computer and console network games in Europe.

WCG 2004 Bulgaria

The new national strategic partner, full of fresh powers and endless enthusiasm, held the National Preliminaries in 5 regional centres – Sofia, Plovdiv, Veliko Tarnovo, Stara Zagora and Varna. The tournament was held under the patronage of the Minister of Youth and Sport – Vasil Ivanov–Luciano – and the Ambassador of the Republic of Korea – Mr. Chong Je-Sik. After the fine sieve of the preliminaries His Excellency personally handed the winners their prizes in Hall 3 of the National Palace of Culture. The National final and the concomitant musical and show programmes were broadcasted live on Kanal 3 TV. Our guests – the representatives of the Romanian national team played demo matches with the Bulgarian champions. The eleven gamers who won their plane tickets to the first ever WCG outside of Korea were competing in StarCraft, WarCraft III, FIFA, Unreal Tournament and Need for Speed. For the first time we had a console player – in Project Gotham Racing. This year was extremely successful for Bulgarian cyber sport. It was even more than successful – we crushed the Asian hegemony over StarCraft. Our player Christian Drechsler seized the bronze and brought his competition to the verge of tears.

WCG 2005 Bulgaria

The 5th WCG Bulgaria anniversary was devoted to the establishment of the National preliminaries as a youth festival of digital culture under the slogan “Beyond the Game”. The cyber competition patron was Mrs. Vessela Lecheva – chairwoman of the State Agency for Youth and Sport. BFES took up the realization of the WCG in our south neighbour Greece as well.
Eighteen cities were hosts to the national preliminaries and the final was once more held in Hall 3 of the National Palace of Culture. The rapper Igrata wrote a WCG Bulgaria anthem.
The players leaving for Singapore were eleven. Traditionally the quota was filled with local masters of FIFA, Need for Speed, WarCraft III, StarCraft and Dead or Alive. This tournament was another proof for the great potential of Bulgarian gamers – the 15-year-old Kaloyan Botev gave no chance to his rivals in Carom 3D.
This year will also be remembered for the creation of the E-sport Trainer profession. That was a BFES initiative under the EU project “Leonardo da Vinci”. This was one serious step towards the legalisation of computer and console network games as an official sport.

WCG 2006 Bulgaria

The national preliminaries were held under the patronage of the President of the Republic of Bulgaria – Mr. Georgi Parvanov, under the slogan “Past and future in the digital era”. In the name of the idea that there is no future without past, host to the National final was the National Historical Museum. Guests of the event were the Minister of External Affairs – Mr. Ivaylo Kalfin, the SAYS chairwoman – Mrs. Vessela Lecheva, the executive Vicepresident of ICM – Mr. Oh and the president of Samsung Austria Mr. Simon Rhee. Parallel to the cyber tournament a skate competition and a graffiti fest were held.
WCG 2006 Grand Final was held in Monza, Italy where 7 Bulgarian players were competing in FIFA, WarCraft III, StarCraft and Dead or Alive. We are proud with the licensing of the first Bulgarian referee – Vladislav Bonev.
The big BFES project for this year was Varna’s candidature for host city to the WCG 2008 Grand Final. The initiative was supported by a number of state institutions, local authorities and other companies and organizations. The host city choice delegation was welcomed personally by the Vice-president – Mr. Angel Marin, the SAYS Chairwoman Mrs. Vessela Lecheva and the SAITC Chairman – Mr. Plamen Vachkov who declared the willingness of the state to cooperate by all means for the realization of the idea. On Varna’s celebration day, the mayor – Mr. Kiril Jordanov, introduced the Korean guests to the President of the Republic of Bulgaria – Mr. Georgi Parvanov. With that the explicit intention of Varna to win the competition was made clear. Unfortunately the host city to the WCG 2008 was chosen to be Cologne, Germany with the winning support of the electronic giant Philips that joined as a sponsor for the cyber Olympics.