Year in Review - Three of Four Age-Group World Titles Belong to Europe
Feature
In 2025, four FIVB World Championships for age-group national teams (U19 and U21) were staged, with European teams claiming three world titles - three gold medals in total. If the two U17 World Championships played in 2024 are also included, Europe currently holds four of the six available gold medals.
The dominance of teams from the European Volleyball Confederation (CEV) is further underlined by the results of the senior World Championships held in 2025 in Thailand and the Philippines. Italy’s women were crowned world champions, with Türkiye finishing as runners-up. In the men’s competition, the top four places were occupied exclusively by European teams: Italy, Bulgaria, Poland, and Czechia.
That the future of world volleyball belongs to Europe - and to CEV member federations - was clearly confirmed throughout July and early August.
At the 2025 U19 Women’s World Championship hosted by Croatia and Serbia (2–13 July), Bulgaria claimed gold for the first time in history, while Poland took bronze. The only non-European team on the podium were the United States, who won silver.
At the U19 Men’s World Championship (24 July–3 August) in Uzbekistan, the podium was an all-European affair, featuring France, Poland, and Spain.
Both tournaments featured 24 national teams. In the girls’ competition, nine European teams took part, while eight CEV members competed in the boys’ event.
It is also worth recalling the medalists from the 2024 European U18 Championships. In the women’s competition, Bulgaria won gold, Belgium finished second and Italy claimed bronze. In the men’s competition, France were crowned European champions, Italy took silver, and Poland secured bronze.
The 'older' age group (U21) competed at World Championships this year in Indonesia (7-17 August) for women and in China (21-31 August) for men, again with 24 teams in each tournament.
In the women’s U21 competition, Italy captured the world title, while Japan and Brazil won silver and bronze respectively. Seven CEV teams took part in the tournament.
In the men’s U21 event, Iran emerged as world champions after defeating Italy in the final, with the United States finishing third. Once again, seven European teams competed, making this the only championship where Europe settled for “just” a silver medal.
At the 2024 European U20 Championship for women, Türkiye claimed the continental title, Italy were runners-up and Belgium won bronze.
In the men’s U20 competition, France were crowned European champions, Bulgaria finished second, and Czechia took the bronze.
The youngest age groups, U16, contested the European Championships this year. In the girls’ tournament, medals were shared by Poland, Türkiye and Italy, while the boys’ podium featured Italy, Spain and France.
The inaugural U17 World Championship was held in 2024 in Peru (17–25 August) for girls, where China became the first-ever world champions, followed by Japan and Italy.
At the U17 Men’s World Championship in Sofia (24–31 August), Italy claimed the historic first world title, Argentina finished second and Chinese Taipei took bronze.
Both U17 tournaments featured 16 teams. Three European teams competed in the girls’ event, while four CEV representatives took part in the boys’ competition.
