Tourism and Sports Minister Mr Sorawong Thienthong receives a bouquet of flowers from Kiattipong-led former national team players known as “7 Legends of Volleyball”
Bangkok, Thailand, December 9, 2024 – Thailand’s preparation to host the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship has moved into top gear after getting the green light from the government to go ahead with the proposal from Ministry of Tourism and Sports.
Tourism and Sports Minister Mr Sorawong Thienthong chaired the Monday’s meeting, attended by Thailand Volleyball Association President Mr Somporn Chaibangyang, AVC Executive Director and TVA Honorary Life President Mr Shanrit Wongprasert, Thailand women’s national volleyball team head coach Mr Kiattipong Radchatagriengkai as well as five star spiker from the “7 Legends of Volleyball” – Pleumjit Thinkaow, Wilavan Apinyapong, Onuma Sittirak, Malika Kanthong and Wanna Buakaew, at Office of the Minister.
Tourism and Sports Minister Mr Sorawong Thienthong
Mr Sorawong revealed that it is an honour and great pride of Thailand that the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) had selected the country to earn the solo hosting rights to the aforementioned World Championship, citing that Thailand has potential to host this topflight event as the country has already proved as successful hosts to many world-class tournaments, particularly Volleyball Nations League Finals last year.
The Minister added that Thailand is uniquely positioned to take advantage of having competition venues, facilities and infrastructure as well as board and lodging and capable personnels. In addition, due to strong fan club, volleyball also holds a place in the hearts of Thai fans as one of the well-loved sports in the country. This can be seen when a large number of passionate fans flocked into the packed venue to watch world-class competitions held in Thailand including the VNL Finals and maintained high engagement.
TVA President Mr Somporn Chaibangyang speaks in the meeting
In terms of hosting the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship, Minister Sorawong disclosed that the proposal aligned with the Cabinet’s tourism stimulus policy by promoting Thailand’s tourist attractions aside from boosting confidence among foreign investors and hosting world-class sporting events in the country.
“Thailand women’s national volleyball players are loved by volleyball fans in the country and around the world. To host this world-class competition will not only give Thai volleyball enthusiasts a once-in-lifetime chance to closely watch top women’s volleyball players from 32 teams in the world play in Thailand, but also create good image of Thailand to the world through live broadcast worldwide,” he said.
The Minister is also convinced that the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship will help promote Thailand’s tourist attractions and culture globally, as well as boost confidence among foreign visitors and investors in the country.
AVC Executive Director and TVA Honorary Life President Mr Shanrit Wongprasert
“The World Championship is expected to draw 1.3 million visitors to Thailand, generating 8.5 billion baht in revenue for the country, while we have set aside the budget of 1.1 billion baht in organizing the championship,” he added.
The 2025 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship is scheduled to take place in Thailand from August 22 to September 7, 2025, with 32 qualified teams from across the world vying for the world title. They comprise hosts Thailand, defending world champions Serbia, top three from each of the 2023 Continental Championships – Japan, China and Vietnam (AVC), Brazil, Argentina and Colombia (CSV), Kenya, Egypt and Cameroon (CAVB), Turkey, Netherlands and Italy (CEV), Dominican Republic, the USA and Canada (NORCECA), and the remaining 15 teams from top 15 as per FIVB World Ranking yet qualified consisting of Poland, Germany, Belgium, Czech Republic, Puerto Rico, Ukraine, France, Bulgaria, Cuba, Sweden, Mexico, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain and Greece.
Teams will be divided into eight groups of four teams apiece, with the drawing of lots to be conducted on December 17, 2024 at 15.00pm local time in Pavilion Convention Hall at The Grand Fourwings Convention Hotel Bangkok. Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra is likely to preside over the drawing ceremony at the invitation of the Minister.
The pool round-robin preliminaries will be held in four main cities of four regions in the country featuring Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand, Phuket in Southern Thailand, Nakhon Ratchasima in Northeastern Thailand and Bangkok in Central Thailand. Two pools of eight teams in total will compete in each host city. After the preliminaries, top two teams from each pool will advance to Round of last 16 teams in Bangkok, in which the Hua Mark Indoor Stadium will be the battleground for the last 16 teams, quarterfinals, semifinals and finals.
Representatives from Thailand volleyball fan club present a bouquet of flowers to Tourism and Sports Minister Mr Sorawong Thienthong
Minister Sorawong said that while hosting the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship, Thailand will also share the “Green Hearts Campaign,” aimed to galvanise the public to join together and show decision makers that Thailand wants to see real and rapid action to tackle the climate and nature crisis.
“The Green Hearts Campaign will help foster competencies in innovation, responsibility towards society and the environment, and a deep understanding of sustainable development. Thus, we will focus on efficient use of environmentally friendly natural resources, making the most of Thailand sports associations to run a successful pilot campaign,” said Mr Sorawong.
“However, we have to cancel our initial plans to host 2025 VNL and instead focus on the staging of the FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship. Both tournaments will be held almost at the same time, but the World Championship is more important. So, we have to cancel hosting the VNL and keep our focus on the World Championship. This is to make the World Championship the best preparation possible. However, Thailand will launch a bid again to host the 2026 VNL,” he concluded.
QUICK LINKS
AVC Website: click www.asianvolleyball.net
AVC Facebook: click www.Facebook.com/AsianVolleyballConfederation
AVC Twitter: click: www.twitter.com/AsianVolleyball
AVC Instagram: click: https://www.instagram.com/avcvolley/?hl=en
Mikasa Instagram: click: https://www.instagram.com/mikasasports_official
AVC Youtube: click: Asian Volleyball Confederation
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