Heavyweights and dark horses meet in all-European semis at the World Championship

Four European teams have qualified for the semi-finals of the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship, ensuring that the world title will stay in Europe for the fourth edition in a row.

Heavy hitters Poland and Italy, which will face off in the second semi-final, plus Czechia and Bulgaria, the surprise packages of the competition, have made it in the penultimate act, with the two semi-finals scheduled for Saturday, 26 September, in Pasay City, Philippines.

The second semi-final between Poland and Italy will, in fact, be a rematch of the CEV EuroVolley 2023 Men final, when Poland clinched their second continental title, with a clear 3:0 win.

On the other hand, Italy aim to secure their second consecutive title and the fifth in history, replicating Poland’s performance from 2014 and 2018, when the European powerhouse secured back-to-back titles. In fact, this semi-final is also a rematch of the previous FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship final, when Italy dished Poland a 3:1 loss.

So far, Poland have conceded only two sets – one in the preliminary round and one in the Round of 16 against Canada, before sweeping Türkiye in straight sets. On the other hand, Italy conceded a loss against Belgium in the preliminary round, 2:3, but have beaten Argentina and Belgium in straight sets in the knockout phase, properly dominating their opponents.

“Our ambitions are to go far in this tournament and I hope that we will play against Poland in the semifinal like we did today, against Belgium,” said Roberto Russo.

Italy and Poland met twice in 2025 in the FIVB Volleyball Nations League, with Italy taking a 3:2 win in the league round and Poland beating Italy in the final, 3:0, to take the title.

“To play against Italy will always be one of the best games. I hope we will make an amazing game here for all the fans around the world,” said Poland’s Wilfredo Leon, the MVP of the CEV EuroVolley 2023 Men.

Few would have thought that Czechia and Bulgaria will play for a place in the final, but here they are, in a historic tournament for both teams.

Since winning the bronze in 2006, Bulgaria have made the top-10 only once, in 2010, when they finished seventh, but now they have the chance to secure their second finals berth, after clinching the silver in 1970, when they hosted the competition.

So far, they have been perfect, winning five matches out of five played and have proven nerves of steel, especially in the quarter-final against the USA, when they came back from two sets down to secure the decider, 15:13, and progress to the semi-finals.

“The belief was always there and always will be there, no matter how much we are down. We are like a family and we fight like brothers. We love each other like brothers, so we have no reason to give up. We can only win from being here. When the last ball fell, I just wanted to go on my knees and just enjoy it, because the feeling was something that I can never even describe. I hope we can experience it again soon, in a couple of days. This is why we train, for this type of feeling,” said Bulgaria’s Moni Nikolov for Volleyball World.

Bulgaria also have the best scorer of the competition so far, Aleks Nikolov, who added 29 points against USA to improve his overall tally to 119 points at this edition of the World Championship.

However, Czechia will also aim for their maiden finals berth here, after qualifying to the competition for the first time since 2010. As Czechia, their best performance so far was the 10th place, but after making it to the knockout phase from the second place in their pool, they looked stellar.

They won against Tunisia (3:0) and the Islamic Republic of Iran (3:1) to reach the semi-finals, a fantastic performance for a side which finished 12th at the last CEV EuroVolley.

Bulgaria have won three of the last four mutual matches, but the two teams have last met in a competitive setting at the CEV EuroVolley 2021.