Playoffs

Greek soccer is probably returning to action early next month, as the Super League announced on Monday decided to propose to the Greek government that its playoffs start on June 6-7.

Sweden versus Italy is the big derby of the playoffs for the World Cup in 2018.

The eight best second teams from the European qualification groups will face each other to determine the last four teams to play at the 2018 World Cup.

Here are the matches:

Northern Ireland - Switzerland
Croatia - Greece
Denmark - Eire
Sweden - Italy

The Bulgarian national volleyball team beat Finland 3:1 (-23, 21, 11, 12) and qualified for the 1/4-final of the European Men's Championship in Poland. The intrigue in Krakow's playoff match disappeared after the end of the first game in which the Scandinavians took advantage due to the hesitant play of the Bulgarian team.

The Greek Super League, the country’s professional football body, has decided to limit the competing teams from 16 to 14 from the next season by a narrow majority. The body’s board members also decided to change the structure of the end of season play-offs, with the league’s champion also participating in the mini-championship at the end of the regular season.

The men's national volleyball team scored three wins in three games in Belgium this weekend to make it five wins in a total of six games and advance to the play-offs for a spot in the finals of next year's European Championship.

The draw for the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, which was held in Saint Petersburg on Saturday, determined tough opponents for the Bulgarian men's national football team.

Bulgaria was drawn in qualification group A along with the teams of the Netherlands, France, Sweden, Belarus and Luxembourg.