Bottolo and Romano ace away on Italy’s way to the crown
Italy are the 2025 world champions! In front of an official number of 15,682 spectators in Sunday’s FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship Philippines 2025 final in Pasay City, they overpowered the young team of Bulgaria in four sets to claim the crown. It was their second consecutive and fifth overall world title, after their triumphs in 1990, 1994, 1998 and 2022. Bulgaria settled for silver, their second in the history of the World Championships, after 1970. Earlier on Sunday, Poland beat Czechia in four sets to claim the bronze.
- Watch 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship replays on VBTV
Despite the usual excessive errors from the serving line, Bulgaria managed to step two points ahead in the middle of the first set, but then Italy took control with five in a row on outside hitter Mattia Bottolo’s serving turn and never looked back. It was Bottolo again who closed the set at a four-point margin Italy’s way. Bulgaria recovered from an early five-point Italian lead in the second set, only to let the opponents run off with a wide advantage again. And when they were close to catching up again, Italian opposite Yuri Romano, who was continuing his excellent performance from the first set, practically decided the set with an amazing five aces in a row. Three rallies later, another ace, this time from Bottolo, put Italy at a two-set lead. When the high risk in serving finally started paying off for Bulgaria in the third set, they took control on the court and took it by a wide margin. Outside Martin Atanasov’s ace put the team at a set point and opposite Asparuh Asparuhov closed the set off with a smart move in attack. Two amazing serving runs by Bottolo decided set four in an emphatic manner. With the first one, Italy broke away early into the set, and with the second, they brought the match to a close with middle blocker Simone Anzani hammering the World Championship point for a 3-1 (25-21, 25-17, 17-25, 25-10) victory.
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Italy outplayed Bulgaria on all counts – in unforced errors by 22-23, in attack by 46-43 in spike kills, in net defense by 10-4 in kill blocks, and most substantially in serving by 13-4 in aces. Mattia Bottolo authored as many as seven of those aces, to which he added two kill blocks and 10 points in offense towards a 19-point total. Yuri Romano put away another five aces and a kill block, while swinging at a 70% success rate, to lead the team with a total of 22 points. Outside hitter Alessandro Michieletto also reached the double digits with 11 points to his name.
21-year-old Bulgarian outside Aleksandar Nikolov emerged as the best scorer of the match with 23 points and the best scorer of the tournament with a total of 173. In the final, Nikolov spiked at a 58% success rate and added one kill block and one ace to his tally. Martin Atanasov finished with 11 points, including two aces and a block. He registered a 62% success rate in offense.
2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship: all results
Alessandro Michieletto honored as World Championship MVP
The Italian star headlines a Dream Team of seven individual awardees
Italy’s star outside hitter Alessandro Michieletto was honored as the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship in the Philippines. The 24-year-old athlete has collected numerous individual awards throughout his volleyball career so far, but this one is by far the most prestigious one.
- Watch 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship replays on VBTV
Michieletto also led a line-up of seven well-deserving players named on the symbolic World Championship Dream Team during the awarding ceremony at the end of the final showdown in Pasay City on Sunday evening.
Setter: Simone Giannelli (Italy)
Opposite: Yuri Romano (Italy)
Outside hitters: Alessandro Michieletto (Italy) and Aleksandar Nikolov (Bulgaria)
Middle blockers: Aleks Grozdanov (Bulgaria) and Jakub Kochanowski (Poland)
Libero: Fabio Balaso (Italy)
The 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship Dream Team
Michieletto contributed a total of 93 points over the seven matches his team played at Philippines 2025 on the way to the world title. He was Italy’s most prolific scorer of the tournament and the sixth best scorer among all players of the World Championship. He also finished in a joint fifth place in the best servers ranking with 12 aces under his belt.
2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship: all results
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