Kraków, Poland, August 29, 2017. Bulgaria will play Finland and Italy will take on Turkey as the play-off phase of LOTTO EUROVOLLEY POLAND 2017 gets underway in Krakow and Katowice in less than 24 hours’ time. 

It has also just been announced that from the Play-offs all matches will be live streamed on Facebook and YouTube in countries where no television rights have been sold!

Here are some key facts and stats ahead of the meetings which start at 17:30 CEST on Wednesday:

Bulgaria vs Finland

Head-to-Head 
- Bulgaria have won five of their six European Championship matches against Finland, the exception being the 3-0 victory for the Finnish team in the first group stage in 2007
- Four of those five victories for Bulgaria came in straight sets, including their most recent encounter in the second group phase in 2009
- The only time when both sides won at least one set was in their group phase encounter in 1997, when Bulgaria won 3-1
- Last year, Bulgaria and Finland met in the European Olympic Qualification tournament in Berlin. Bulgaria won 3-1, but both teams failed to qualify for Rio 2016
- Their last encounter at a major tournament came at the 2014 World Championship, when Finland won in straight sets

Bulgaria 
- Bulgaria have played the bronze-medal match at three of the previous four European Championships, winning in 2009 but losing in both 2013 and 2015
- The only time they were ousted before the semifinals in this run was in 2011, when they were eliminated by Russia in the quarter-finals
- Russia again proved too strong in Bulgaria's opening match during this tournament (3-0), but the Bulgarians won their last two European Championship matches in straight sets (against Spain and Slovenia)
- They could win three European Championship matches in a row by a 3-0 score line for the first time since 1977
- Tsvetan Sokolov has scored 51 points at the tournament, joint-third most of all players
- He has averaged 5.67 points per set, second-most of all players behind Germany's György Grozer (5.87)
- Nikolay Nikolov has scored a joint-competition high 11 points from blocks

Finland 
- Finland have reached the quarter-finals at two of the last three European Championships, the exception being 2015 when they were eliminated by Italy in the play-offs for the quarterfinals
- Their best result in this tournament came in 2007, when they finished in fourth place
- Finland have won only two of their last nine European Championship matches, group stage victories over Slovakia (2015) and Estonia (2017)
- They could suffer three successive straight-set defeats in this championship for the first time since a run of four in 2009
- Olli-Pekka Ojansivu (49) is Finland's leading scorer at this European Championship
- Only Filippo Lanza (9) has scored more points from aces than Ojansivu (6)

Italy vs Turkey

Head-to-Head 
- Italy and Turkey will meet at the European Championship for the first time since 1967, when the Italian team won 3-1 in the group stage
- Their other two European Championship encounters came in 1958 and 1963, with Italy also winning 3-1 on both occasions
- These teams also met at the World Championship in 1966, with Turkey claiming a 3-1 victory this time

Italy 
- Only Russia (13 including Soviet Union and CIS) have won more European titles than Italy (6), but Italy's last title to-date came in 2005
- Italy reached the semi-finals at each of the last three European Championships, finishing as runners-up in 2011 and 2013 and claiming third place in 2015
- Italy could win three consecutive European Championship matches for the first time since 2013, when they defeated the Netherlands (play-off quarter-finals), Finland (quarter-finals) and Bulgaria (semi-finals)
- Both of their victories at this tournament came in straight sets. The last time they won three successive fixtures by a 3-0 scoreline was in 2005 on their way to their most recent European title
- Italy have won both of their play-off matches for the quarterfinals at the European Championship, against Netherlands in 2013 and versus Finland in 2015
- Filippo Lanza has scored 51 points at this European Championship, joint-third most of all players
- Lanza (9) is the only player who has registered more than six aces during this tournament

Turkey 
- Turkey could reach the quarter-finals at the European Championship for the first time
- Their highest finish at the tournament was an 11th place in both 1963 and 2011
- Turkey have won only two of their last 16 European Championship matches, group stage victories over Austria (3-0 in 2011) and Netherlands (3-1 in 2017)
- Turkey could win multiple matches during a single European Championship tournament for the first time since 1971 (three victories)
- The only time they played a play-off for the quarter-finals was in 2011, when they lost 3-1 against France
- Metin Toy has scored 66 points at this European Championship, most of all players