Bulgaria and Italy to battle it out for the world crown

It’s the moment they have been all waiting for: a head-to-head battle, but this time with a twist. It is a battle for the world title, one which Bulgaria have been eyeing throughout their history, while Italy won it four times already.

So the maths are simple: both teams have secured a medal with their semi-final wins against Czechia and Poland respectively, but Bulgaria, which qualified in the final for the first time in 55 years, can clinch their maiden title, with Italy aiming to get only one title behind the most decorated team in history, the Soviet Union.

It has been a roller-coaster of a campaign for Italy, which needed a win in their last preliminary round match against Ukraine, after conceding a 2:3 loss against Belgium in the second match of the pool.

They eventually finished second in the pool standings, which meant a much more difficult path towards the trophy, but one which they navigated flawlessly. First, they eliminated Argentina in the Round of 16, with a 3:0 win, and then they avenged the loss against Belgium in the quarter-finals, with another straight sets win.

But arguably their best match came in the semi-finals against archrivals Poland on Saturday, when Italy came from behind in all the three sets, to clinch a 3:0 win, securing their second consecutive finals berth at the 2025 FIVB Men’s Volleyball World Championship.

“We are very happy, but it’s not finished. Now we’ll try to rest a bit and then tomorrow there is another great game.  In our last three games we had a great mentality and this is the result. We stay there also when we are behind in the points, with a strong mentality,” said Italy’s Yuri Romanò for VBTV.

Italy have won the last nine mutual matches, dropping only eight of the 35 sets played, with their latest win coming in June in the 2025 FIVB Men’s Volleyball Nations League, when they won 3:1. However, from those nine matches, Italy won only two in straight sets, therefore Bulgaria have an ace or two upon their sleeve.

One of those aces is the top scorer of the World Championship, Aleksandar Nikolov, who holds a 55-point advantage over the next player who is still in the competition, Czechia’s Patrik Indra.

Nikolov scored 31 points against Czechia and is in red-hot form, being the player who needs to be stopped by the Italian defence, provided Italy really wants to make their match as easier as possible.

Bulgaria are the only undefeated team in the competition, having dropped only five sets in six matches so far, with the hard-fought wins against Slovenia (3:2) in the preliminary round and the USA (3:2) in the quarter-finals really proving how resilient the European team is.

“Incredible! I am lost for words… We are medalists of this World Championship and I can’t believe it! Tomorrow we are just going to try to color the medal in gold. But we have a medal, so we are happy,” said Nikolov after the win against Czechia in the semi-finals.

Provided Italy win the final and the world title, they will be the first nation to hold both the men’s and the women’s world titles since 1960, when the Soviet Union secured the two trophies.

In the bronze medal match, Poland and Czechia will face off, as the reigning European champions will aim to complete their medal cabinet after they won three gold medals and two silver medals so far.