After seven days of intense pool play action, the 16 teams that will proceed to the FIVB Men World Championship Round of 16 have been decided.
A total of eight Round of 16 slots were up for grabs on Thursday as the competition entered Day 7 across the two venues– the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City and SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Serbia, Czechia, Finland, Tunisia, Belgium, Iran, Argentina and defending champions Italy all won their matches on Thursday to join already qualified Poland, USA, Slovenia, Türkiye, Canada, Bulgaria, the Netherlands and Portugal in the Round of 16.
The top two teams in each pool have qualified for the Round of 16 which will start on Saturday as the competition continues in single elimination format through the eighthfinals, quarterfinals, semifinals and the final to determine who will eventually be crowned world champion.https://www.instagram.com/p/DOwKTbPjK46/embed/captioned/?cr=1&v=14&wp=658&rd=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fivb.com&rp=%2Feight-volleyball-empowerment-teams-reach-round-of-16-at-mens-world-championship%2F#%7B%22ci%22%3A0%2C%22os%22%3A4765.5999999940395%2C%22ls%22%3A2798.399999976158%2C%22le%22%3A4756.799999982119%7D
Of the 16 qualified teams, eight are supported by the FIVB Volleyball Empowerment Programme namely Czechia, Finland, Tunisia, Belgium, Slovenia, Canada, Bulgaria and the Netherlands.
Double Olympic champions France, three-time world champions Brazil, Asian champions Japan, Cuba, Germany and African champions Egypt are some of the pre-tournament favourites that were eliminated at the end of the preliminary round.
Italy sweep Ukraine and take the last spot in the Round of 16
Italy’s title defense at the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship continues after the Europeans finished pool play strong and claimed the last spot in the tournament’s Round of 16 on Thursday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.
After getting a win and a loss in their first Pool F matches in the Philippines, the defending champions needed to overcome Ukraine to progress to the elimination rounds and delivered arguably their best performance in the tournament to do it, triumphing 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-18).