Hi, everybody. This is my first post here. Hope it's not the last 
It is not quite true that there's no official statement to declare Matey is the best. He was uncoditionally awarded Number 1 in Europe for 2006. This year the battle for Number 1 in Europe for 2007 is between Matey (again), Grbic (what a double for Trento) and Miguel Ángel Falasca (respect for the reigning European champions). Last minute drop off for Poltavsky. Officially CEV will announce the Number 1 at the start of the World League, but unofficially they confirmed (after a number of questions by the Bulgarian side) that Matey has a huge lead anyway.
As for the world Number 1 - the last sort of title like this was the MVP award at the WC in Japan. After this was awarded to Giba again the Bulgarian delegation in Tokio was furious, and Matey himself said to a few of his teammates and people around the team "For how long! What else do I need to do?". Then one of his teammates (I dont' mention names on purpose) said "You know what you have to do! We need to be champions". They all laughed and agreed that Matey will finally have what he deserves in Beijing.