Triumph for Bulgaria: Bulgarian students won medals at the International Geography Olympiad

21.08.2026 | Bulgarians worldwide

Bulgarian students won two silver and one bronze medal at the Olympiad in Istanbul. It was also announced that Bulgaria will host the prestigious competition in Burgas in 2029.

Снимка от Paul Meyer-Dunker, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Bulgarian success in Istanbul

The Bulgarian national geography team returned with success from the International Geography Olympiad in Istanbul. Our students won a total of three awards:

The team leaders are Assoc. Prof. Dimitar Zhelev, PhD, and Assoc. Prof. Kaloyan Tsvetkov, PhD, from the Faculty of Geology and Geography at Sofia University.

Bulgaria – host of iGeo in 2029

"Burgas competed against tough rivals like Porto Seguro and Nicosia to win the hosting rights for the 25th International Geography Olympiad."

In 2029, our country will mark 25 years since its first participation in the Olympiad. The event in Burgas will be the culmination of the national initiative "GeoDecade 2020–2029", which aims to popularize geography in society. The international competition has been held annually since 2012, and Bulgaria is traditionally ranked among the leading countries in terms of the number of medals won.