Volleyball Empowerment-supported Bulgaria returns to final after 55 years
Defending champions Italy and Bulgaria will clash in the final of the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship on Sunday.
It will be a historic moment for Bulgaria as they return to the final after 55 years. The last time they played in the final was back in 1970, when they earned silver on home ground.
In the first semifinal match at SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City between two teams that are supported by the FIVB Volleyball Empowerment Programme, Bulgaria beat Czechia 3-1 (25-20, 23-25, 25-21, 25-22) to stretch their unbeaten record to six matches.
FIVB has invested CHF 84,000 in the Coach Support project in Bulgaria with Italian head coach Gianlorenzo Blengini taking charge of their men’s national team. The Czech Volleyball Federation has been allocated USD 84,000 in FIVB Volleyball Empowerment coach support for their men’s national volleyball team which is coached by Jiri Novak.
Aleksandar Nikolov once again led Bulgaria from the front with a game-high 31 points (27 kills, 1 block, 3 aces). Lukas Vasina replied for Czechia with 17 points (14 kills, 2 blocks, 1 ace).
“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,” an elated Aleks Nikolov told VBTV. “It definitely felt like a really good game. I owed it to the guys after the bad start against the US. They pulled me out in that game and we managed to win a great quarterfinal. I had to repay them by playing this game like I did, so I am happy that I could.”
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In the second semifinal match at the SM Mall of Asia Arena, defending champions Italy cruised past Poland in straight sets 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-23) to qualify for the final.
Italy’s opposite Yuri Romanò emerged top scorer with 15 points (12 kills, 2 blocks, 1 ace) while Wilfredo Leon returned 14 points (12 kills, 2 blocks) for Poland.
“We played a crazy game – really good, really strong! We believed we would win, but not like this, for sure. 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,” Romano told VBTV. “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.”
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Czechia will face Poland in the bronze medal match on Sunday before Bulgaria and Italy clash in the final to determine who will be crowned world champion.
2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship: Match Schedule & Results
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