Today in Sofia, Georgian national team will face one of the Group C leaders – Bulgaria national team. It surely is a very important match for the both sides.

Note, that the leader of Group C is Belgium with 6 points, who plays fourth-placed Poland today. Georgia and Bulgaria are sharing the second and the third spots in the group with 5 points each. Potentially, the winner of today’s clash will join Belgium on the top of the group, since there not a big probability that the Lions (Belgium nickname) will manage to bring back 2 points from Poland.

To date, Georgian and Bulgaria have faced twice. It happened back in 2003 European Championships second qualification round match-up in Group C. Georgia overcame the opponent in Tbilisi 91:75, while losing away from home 66:85. Back then, Georgians did not manage to qualify from the group as they have finished the third out of four teams.

Vladimir Staphania has his own opinion on how Georgian national team is performing on current qualification stage. Stephania is the first Georgian player in the world’s strongest basketball league – NBA.

- What do you think about the performance of Georgian national team in the current European Championships qualification round?

- Unfortunately, I am very busy. I could not manage to watch all the games of Georgian national team. I did watch Belgium – Georgia game; have not watched the game against Poland and saw only 10 minutes of the game against Portugal. Overall, our national team is full of talented players. We cannot utilize this talent for 100 per cent, however. We play well in offence, but we do need to learn how to play as a team and improve defensively. Opponents know our weak sides so everyone is trying to play close from the very start of the attack.

- Who do you see as favorites in a game between Bulgaria – Georgia?

- I have not seen Bulgarians game, therefore cannot tell you much

- What do you do now?

- I work as a financial analyst in one of the American companies in Southern Caucasus.

- You do not follow basketball, do you?

- Nobody needs me, so, automatically, I do not follow basketball

- If there will be an offer for any position in Georgian national basketball team, will you accept it?

- No doubt. I want to help Georgian basketball with my experience.