Manila, Philippines, May 25, 2025 – Following the successful organization of the first two events in the inaugural AVC Women’s Champions League in Philippines and the inaugural AVC Men’s Champions League in Japan, the Asian Volleyball Confederation has officially concluded the drawing of lots for the remaining four championships scheduled later this year: the AVC Women’s Nations Cup Vietnam 2025, AVC Men’s Nations Cup Bahrain 2025, the 2nd Asian Men’s U16 Volleyball Championship in Thailand, and the 2nd Asian Women’s U16 Volleyball Championship in Jordan.
The drawing of lots ceremony took place alongside the AVC Board of Administration Meeting in Manila, Philippines, presided over by AVC President Mr Ramon Suzara.
Joining the meeting as guests of honour including AVC Honorary President Mrs Rita Subowo of Indonesia, Mr Richard Palou, President of the Premier Volleyball League and Vice President of the Philippine National Volleyball Federation, and PNVF Secretary General Mr Donaldo Caringal.
Also in attendance were AVC Secretary General Mr Hugh Graham (Cook Islands), AVC Executive Vice President Mr Mohamed Latheef (Maldives), Zonal Executive Vice Presidents, AVC Executive Director Mr Shanrit Wongprasert (Thailand), AVC Treasurer Mrs Marina Tsui (Hong Kong, China), and Chairpersons of the AVC Technical Committees and Councils.
AVC Nations Cup: A Pathway to Global Competition
Previously known as the AVC Challenge Cup, the AVC Nations Cup is now held annually in collaboration with Volleyball World. It serves as a platform for national teams not participating in the Volleyball Nations League (VNL) to gain FIVB ranking points and improve their rankings. The champions will qualify for the 2026 Asian Men’s and Women’s Volleyball Championships, which in turn act as regional qualifiers for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles and the 2027 FIVB World Championships.
AVC Women’s Nations Cup Vietnam 2025 (June 7-14, 2025 in Hanoi, Vietnam)
Eleven teams confirmed their participation to vie for top honour in the eight-day tournament in Hanoi.
According to the Sunday’s results of the drawing of lots, top seeds and organisers Vietnam, which won back-to-back AVC Women’s Challenge Cup titles in 2023 in Gresik, Indonesia and 2024 in Manila, Philippines, are in Pool A with 4th seeds Australia, 5th seeds India, Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong, China, while Pool B comprises 2nd seeds Kazakhstan, 3rd seeds Philippines, 6th seeds Iran, Indonesia, Mongolia and New Zealand.
The teams will compete in the pool round-robin preliminaries from June 7 to 12, with June 10 the rest day for recovery. Top two teams from each pool will battle it out in the cross semifinals on June 13. The remaining teams will play the classification round, with 5th-ranked team in Pool A challenging the 6th-ranked team in Pool B in the 10th-11th playoff match and the teams finishing 3rd and 4th places in each pool contesting the respective ranking round.
On June 7, hosts Vietnam and Hong Kong, China are set to meet in their opening Pool A clash. Other matches due to take place on the same day will be Australia vs Chinese Taipei, Kazakhstan vs New Zealand, Philippines vs Mongolia and Iran vs Indonesia.
AVC Men’s Nations Cup Bahrain 2025 (June 17-24, 2025 in Manama, Bahrain)
Twelve teams will participate, divided into four pools of three. The teams will be divided into four pools of three teams apiece to compete in the pool round-robin preliminaries, with top two teams from each pool advancing to the quarterfinals and the remaining teams contesting the 9th-12th classification round.
According to the results of the Sunday’s drawing of lots, hosts Bahrain, Indonesia and Thailand are in Pool A, with top seeds Qatar, Australia and Kazakhstan in Pool B. Pool C consists of second seeds Pakistan, Chinese Taipei and Philippines, while third seeds Korea, Vietnam and New Zealand are in Pool D.
On the opening day on June 17, hosts Bahrain will face Thailand in the final rematch of the 2023 AVC Men’s Challenge Cup in Chinese Taipei. The other matches comprise Qatar, winners at the 2024 AVC Men’s Challenge Cup in Isa Town, Bahrain, will take on Kazakhstan, while Pakistan will be pitted against the Philippines and Korea challenge New Zealand.
2nd Asian Men’s U16 Volleyball Championship (July 12-19, 2025 in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand)
Sixteen teams will compete for three qualifying spots to the 2026 FIVB Boys’ U17 World Championship. Teams are divided into four pools of four teams apiece for pool round-robin preliminaries.
According to the Sunday’s results of drawing of lots, hosts Thailand, 8th seeds Australia, China and India are in Pool A, while Pool B consists of top seeds and defending champions Iran, 6th seeds Kazakhstan, Hong Kong China and SE.Z. Pool C comprises 2nd seeds Uzbekistan, 5th seeds Japan, Mongolia and WZ.2, with 3rd seeds Chinese Taipei, 4th seeds Pakistan, Korea and WZ.1 in Pool D. Teams listed as WZ.1, WZ.2 and SE.Z are still pending and will later be updated by AVC as received confirmation from the respective Zonal Associations.
The teams will contest the pool round-robin preliminaries from July 12 to 14, while July 15 will be the rest day for recovery. The top two teams from each pool will advance to the quarterfinals, with teams from Pool A and Pool C playing in Pool E and those from Pool B and Pool D contesting Pool F.
The same system will be applied for classification 9th-16th, with teams finishing 3rd and 4th places playing in Pool G (for teams from Pool A and Pool C) and Pool H (for those from Pool B and Pool D).
On July 12, the opening day of the tournament, hosts Thailand will take on India, while Australia play China, Iran meet SE.Z, Kazakhstan challenge Hong Kong China, Uzbekistan face WZ.2, Japan play Mongolia, Chinese Taipei face off against WZ.1 and Pakistan lock horns with Korea.
2nd Asian Women’s U16 Volleyball Championship (July 20-27, 2025 in Amman, Jordan)
After the men’s U16 event in Thailand will come to a close on July 19, the focus will next turn to the 2nd AVC Women’s U16 Volleyball Championship, the last AVC Championship of the year.
Featuring 16 teams, this tournament also offers three qualifying spots for the 2026 FIVB Girls’ U17 World Championship.
Similar to the Asian Men’s U16 event in Thailand, the 2nd Asian Women’s U16 Championship in Jordan will be split into four pools of four teams each for the pool round-robin preliminaries from July 20 to 22. July 23 will be the rest day for recovery.
After the preliminaries, the top two teams from each pool will next be divided into two pools – Pool E (for teams from Pool A and Pool C) and Pool F (for those from Pool B and Pool D). The same system will also be applied for classification 9th-16th places, with teams finishing 3rd and 4th places of each pool divided into Pool G (for teams from Pool A and Pool C) and Pool H (for those from Pool B and Pool D).
According to the Sunday’s drawing of lots, hosts Jordan are in Pool A with 7th seeds Uzbekistan, Lebanon and Hong Kong China, while top seeds and title holders Japan, 6th seeds Iran, Saudi Arabia and Philippines are in Pool B. Pool C comprises 2nd seeds China, 5th seeds Kazakhstan, Qatar and Korea, with 3rd seeds Chinese Taipei, 4th seeds Thailand, Australia and India in Pool D.
Hosts Jordan will kick off their campaign against Hong Kong, China on July 20, the opening day of the eight-day championship. Other matches on the same day will see Uzbekistan take on Lebanon, Japan play Philippines, Iran face Saudi Arabia, China face off against Korea, Kazakhstan meet Qatar, Chinese Taipei challenge India and Thailand take on Australia.
Following the Sunday’s drawing of lots ceremony, the official results and sample match schedules have been distributed to the host federations in Vietnam, Bahrain, Thailand, and Jordan. These hosts federations have been requested to finalize the match schedules in accordance with local time and venue availability and submit them to AVC for approval. Once approved, AVC will proceed with final preparations to ensure the successful organization of all four championships.
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