Hosts Thailand clash with Japan in Asian Derby as defending champions Serbia take on European rivals the Netherlands
The pool play of the ongoing 2025 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship concluded on Wednesday afternoon in Thailand with 16 teams proceeding to the Round of 16.
Back-to-back defending champions Serbia leads a stellar cast of 16 countries into the single elimination phase that starts on Friday and will feature the top two countries from each of the eight pools.
Hosts and Asian champions Thailand, the defending champions Serbia, Olympic and Volleyball Nations League (VNL) champions Italy, three-time World champions Japan, European champions Turkiye, South American champions Brazil and NORCECA champions USA are some of the perennial contenders set to clash in the Round of 16.
Round of 16 draw
Thailand v Japan
Netherlands v Serbia
Poland v Belgium
USA v Canada
Italy v Germany
China v France
Brazil v Dominican Republic
Turkiye v Slovenia
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Turkiye stay perfect in Thailand
Turkiye against Slovenia and USA against Canada emerged as the first two complete eighthfinal match-ups at the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship in Thailand. These two games will be played on Monday, September 1, in Bangkok. In a third-leg Pool E match in Nakhon Ratchasima on Wednesday, between the undefeated teams of Turkiye and Canada, the reigning European champions shut out their North American opponents to finish on top of the pool standings without dropping a single set. Canada took the runner-up spot to move forward to the next round.
With recovered 38-year-old middle blocker and captain Eda Erdem back on court with her team for the first time, Turkiye mastered a 3-0 (25-21, 27-25, 25-13) victory over Canada, dominating at the net by 49-35 in spike kills and by 10-5 in kill blocks.
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Maldonado fires 33 to help Mexico finish on a high
With an impressive 33 points from opposite Sofia Maldonado, Mexico outlasted Colombia in a five-set battle in the last game for either team at the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship in Thailand. On Wednesday, the North Americans scored their first Pool F win in Chiang Mai to finish third in the pool standings and leave their South American opponents bottom of the table winless.
Colombia managed to fight their way back from a set down twice during their last game in Thailand, but in the end, Mexico celebrated a 3-2 (25-22, 22-25, 25-23, 18-25, 15-12) victory to leave the tournament on a high note.
Kenyan block party and after-party against Vietnam
There was a big Kenyan party on the court after the African team shut out Vietnam with a serving ace by captain Meldinah Nemali Sande for the match winner in their last 2025 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship game in Thailand. In Wednesday’s Pool G fixture in Phuket, Kenya put up a huge block party with 21 stuffs to celebrate their first ever World Championship victory over an opponent from Asia. At each of the previous two editions of the competition, Kenya managed to score a win – over Mexico in 2018 and over Cameroon in 2022. Vietnam had to settle for a winless fourth place in the pool standings at their rookie appearance at a World Championship.
Kenya made up for the abundant unforced errors they made during the game by outperforming the rivals in all three scoring elements, especially in net defense by 21-3 in kill blocks, towards an impressive 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-18) sweep.
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Japan beat defending champions to top pool in Thailand
Japan and defending two-time champions Serbia battled it out in four sets for the top of Pool H at the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship in Thailand. On Wednesday in Bangkok, the Asian team outplayed their European opponents to leave them in second place in the pool standings, setting up eighthfinal match-ups between Japan and Thailand and between the Netherlands and Serbia, both on Friday, August 29.
With 60 spike kills against 48, Japan completely outperformed Serbia in attack on the way to a 3-1 (25-23, 30-28, 23-25, 25-18) victory, shaped up with a double block by middle Airi Miyabe and setter Nanami Seki for the match winning point.
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China raise their level and beat the Dominican Republic for first place
Asian powerhouse China produced their best performance in the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship so far on Wednesday, when they concluded their undefeated pool play campaign with a sweep of the Dominican Republic.
Playing in Chiang Mai, the Chinese, who had dropped sets to both Mexico and Colombia in their previous matches, put together a strong display to dominate the ‘Queens of the Caribbean’ and secure a 3-0 (25-15, 25-21, 25-17) victory in their last Pool C match.
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Spain end their campaign on a high with first victory
Spain are set to return home after their second appearance at the FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship in good spirits after they took continental rivals Bulgaria down in their last match in Nakhon Ratchasima on Wednesday.
After displaying solid performances in their previous matches against Canada and Türkiye, the Spanish were finally able to capitalize on it and topped the Bulgarians 3-1 (25-22, 25-14, 22-25, 25-18) to exit the tournament on a high.
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Ukraine score first World Championship triumph in 30 years
Ukraine’s first victory in an FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship match in over 30 years completed the match schedule of Pool H on Wednesday in Bangkok.
After going down to Japan and Serbia in their first two matches, the Europeans faced Cameroon in their last match at the Huamark Indoor Stadium and didn’t waste the opportunity to end their campaign with a positive result, beating the Africans 3-0 (25-17, 25-21, 25-20).
Poland overcome Germany in a thriller to continue undefeated
European powerhouses Poland and Germany ended the pool phase of the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship on Wednesday in what was arguably the most exciting match in the tournament so far, which had the Polish coming out on top after five intense sets in Phuket.
The number three team in the FIVB World Ranking saved multiple German match points in two different sets before securing a 3-2 (21-25, 25-15, 19-25, 28-26, 19-17) victory that kept them undefeated at the end of pool play.
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2025 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship: full schedule and results
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