REIGNING champion Italy, Olympic gold medalist France, world No. 1 Poland and everybody else elite are coming for the FIVB Men’s Volleyball World Championship 2025 set next month at the SM Mall of Asia Arena and Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“Elite at its highest level,” said Philippine National Volleyball Federation president Ramon “Tats” Suzara, who also heads the world championship’s Local Organizing Committee co-chaired by Presidential son William Vincent “Vinny” Araneta Marcos, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano and Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco.
All three squads have been installed as heavy favorites due to their world rankings and current titles approaching the final two weeks before the world spikefest storms into the country from September 12 to 28.
Led by top-ranked spiker Wilfredo Leon and Volleyball Nations League MVP middle blocker Jakub Kochanowski, Poland marches into the Philippine shores as the No. 1 team as per the updated FIVB rankings.
Poland, the silver medalist in the 2024 Paris Olympics, earned 400 points after sweeping Italy in the VNL finals this month in China and is likely to stay as the top-ranked squad without any tournaments on board as the 32 teams hit the final stage of their preparations.
France is ranked fourth and will ride its back-to-back title feats in the Olympics, capped by a sweep of Poland, to join the top title contenders in the biggest world championship edition in FIVB history.
Paris MVP Earvin Ngapeth stands at the forefront of the Frenchmen, who are out to avenge their early quarterfinal exit in the 2022 World Championship hosted by Poland and Slovenia.
Then there’s the reigning global champion and world No. 2 Italy, which is determined to hold the fort and avenge its VNL finale defeat to Poland.
VNL Best Setter Simone Giannelli and Best Outside Spiker Alessendro Michieletto spearhead the way for the Italians, who stunned their Polish rivals in the 2022 edition at home.
Sandwiched in between the Top 3 contenders is world No. 3 Brazil, led by the quartet of Alan Souza, Ricardo Lucarelli, Mathes Bispo dos Santos and setter Bruno Fernando, in a bid to make up for its pair of bronze-medal finishes in the 2022 World Cup and 2025 VNL.
Poland leads Pool B with the Netherlands, Qatar and Romania; France is in Pool C with Argentina, Finland and South Korea; Italy spearheads Pool F with Ukraine, Belgium and Algeria; while Brazil tops Pool H with Serbia, Czech Republic and China.
World No. 5 Japan, No. 6 USA, No. 7 Slovenia, No. 8 Germany, No. 9 Argentina and No. 10 Cuba also loom as top guns in the world tourney also backed by Rebisco, SM, PLDT, SMART, Metro Pacific Investment, Honda Philippines, Meralco, Sony, Lenovo, LRT Line 2, officially sanctioned by the FIVB, partnered with Volleyball World, Mikasa, the official ball, Mizuno, Gerflor and Senoh Corporation.
Ranked No. 82, host Alas Pilipinas is in Pool A with No. 13 Iran, African champion and No. 23 Egypt as well as No. 42 Tunisia.
