FIVB Men’s World Championship: Philippines, Iran, Egypt, Tunisia

MANILA, Philippines — As the host nation, Alas Pilipinas makes its historic participation in the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship 2025 against the top African teams and powerhouse Asian squad Iran in Pool A.

With the top 31 best volleyball countries arriving in Manila from September 12 to 28 at Mall of Asia Arena and Smart Araneta Coliseum, the Philippines also gets its chance to compete and gain valuable lessons from world-class squads in a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Philippines: Historic debut

Alas Pilipinas’ biggest ace will be its Italian world champion coach Angiolino Frigoni, who has been honing the skills of the Filipino spikers since last year.

The 21-man pool, led by the face of men’s volleyball Bryan Bagunas and Marck Espejo, came from a fruitful training camp in Romania, Morocco, and Portugal, following two consecutive fourth-place finishes in the SEA V-League and a 10th-place finish in the AVC Nations Cup.

With Bagunas and Espejo missing some tournaments due to injuries, young guns like Leo Ordiales, Buds Buddin, Louie Ramirez, Peng Taguibolos, Jade Disquitado, and libero Josh Ybañez have been stepping up to help mainstays Owa Retamar, Steve Rotter, Kim Malabunga, and Jack Kalingking.

The World No. 82 Philippines is seeking to change the landscape of volleyball through its hosting and, at the same time, make the most of the rare opportunity with a world-class build-up ahead of the 33rd Southeast Asian Games in Thailand, where the Filipino Spikers aim to return to the top since their 2019 silver medal run.

Iran: Team to beat

Iran is the team to beat in Pool A, parading a young but tall squad with an average age of 23.8 years and height of 6-foot-5, led by Asia’s Best Opposite spiker Amin Esmaeilnezhad. 

Iran, a three-time Asian Games champion, is the second-highest-ranked Asian team in the tournament at No. 13 and aims to surpass this spot in the 2022 edition.

Team Melli, coached by Italian coach Roberto Piazzacalling and also led by Asian Volleyball Confederation Best Setter Javad Karimi and spikers Ali Hajipour, Morteza Sharifi, Amirhossein Esfandiar, and Ali Haghparast, already rose to ninth place in the Volleyball Nations League from a previous 15th finish.

Egypt: Olympic veterans

Egypt, a nine-time African champion and the lone representative of the continent in the Paris Olympics 2024, is determined to translate its experience into a better World Championship finish this year.

The World No.23 Egypt, which placed 19th in the 2022 worlds, is pinning its hopes on Mohamed Asran and Abdelrahman Seoudy under 61-year-old Italian coach Marco Bonitta, who boasts of multiple international titles highlighted by a gold medal for Italy in the 2022 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship in Germany.

The Pharaohs are also fielding opposite hitter Reda Haikal and outside hitter Ahmed Azabwere.

Tunisia: Big threat

Another threat from Africa is Tunisia, which placed 16th out of the 24-team field in the World Championship 2022.

Tunisia, currently ranked No.43, will miss its star player Wassim Ben Tara, the team’s leading scorer in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

But the 11-time African champions remain a tough task in Pool A with 6-foot-2 opposite spiker Hamza Nagga and 6-foot-4 outside spiker Elyes Karamosli leading the way for the Camillo Placi-coached squad.

Alas Pilipinas debuts in the World Championship against Tunisia on September 12 at MOA Arena, followed by a historic opening ceremony featuring Kpop group BOYNEXTDOOR and Karencitta, who will sing the tournament’s official theme song Electrify.

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