THINGS have taken quite the turn in Alas Pilipinas’ Pool A days before the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship goes underway.
All three of the Philippines’ group stage opponents are set to miss at least one of their star players ahead of the global conclave.
ALAS PILIPINAS MEN MATCH SCHEDULES
- Sep. 12: Philippines vs Tunisia | Friday | 7 p.m. | Mall of Asia Arena
- Sep. 16: Philippines vs Egypt | Tuesday | 5:30 p.m. | Mall of Asia Arena
- Sep. 18: Philippines vs Iran | Thursday | 5:30 p.m. | Mall of Asia Arena
Nonetheless, as head coach Angiolino Frigoni puts it, it’s everything to gain and nothing to lose in the country’s first taste of the world stage.
READ: Alas coach Frigoni sees familiar faces in FIVB Worlds group stage
“We will see there in the MOA Arena, first time in the World Championship. Filipinos have never been in the World Championship in their volleyball life. There will be emotion, I don’t know. I hope that we will react good anyways,” Frigoni said.
“We don’t have anything to lose to be in this experience. The teams that have something to lose are our opponents. They must be very relaxed to play and be confident.”
With the odds still stacked quite heavily on the hosts, here’s all you need to know ahead of Alas’ group stage campaign.
PHILIPPINES: Debuting hosts, eager underdogs
- FIVB WORLD RANKING: 82
- HEAD COACH: Angiolino Frigoni (ITA)
- KEY LOSSES: N/A
The Philippines won’t just be hosting its first FIVB World Championship event as it will also compete in it for the first time across both genders.
It will be the biggest competition any Philippine national volleyball team is set to ever have been part of despite being a regular fixture in zonal and continental competitions for years.
The host nation, set to be led by mainstay wingers Bryan Bagunas and Marck Espejo, looks to overcome a trio of proven winners and continental powerhouses as the second-lowest ranked team in the 32-team field at No. 82.
Only Algeria is ranked lower, six spots below the Philippines.
Set to call the shots in just his second year at helm, Frigoni’s proven international pedigree will be on display in the competition as he’s already won the World Championship twice with Italy as deputy coach in 1990 and 1994.
He also has five FIVB World League titles, three European championships and a World Cup gold to his name, making him a familiar player in the world stage tasked to lead a wayfaring stranger’s historic voyage in uncharted waters.
TUNISIA (#43): Africa’s most decorated men’s volleyball nation
- FIVB WORLD RANKING: 43
- HEAD COACH: Camillo Placi (ITA)
- KEY LOSSES: Wassim Ben Tara (OP)
Tunisia will raise the curtains of this year’s global conclave along with host nation Philippines.
The No. 43 side was handed outright qualification to the tournament by virtue of their FIVB World Ranking classification.
They are also the 11th highest-ranked team in the competition, a fitting number for the most successful African men’s volleyball team with 11 continental titles.
Six decades since their debut campaign, they are set to make their 12th World Championship appearance and seventh in a row.
Their immediate target is to eclipse their all-time best finish at 15th place in the 2006 edition of the tournament.
But they will have to do it without their star spiker Wassim Ben Tara who was ruled out from the FIVB Worlds due to undisclosed ‘prior commitments’ two weeks ago.
Italian coach Camillo Placi will now bank on the one-two punch of opposite winger Hamza Nagga and outside spiker Ilyès Karamosli to lead Tunisia’s Pool A conquest.
EGYPT (#23): Reigning African champions
- FIVB WORLD RANKING: 23
- HEAD COACH: Marco Bonitta (ITA)
- KEY LOSSES: Mohamed Adel (OH, captain)
Africa’s defending continental title-holders booked a routinary return trip to the World Championship by blocking Tunisia’s three-peat bid in 2023.
The Egyptians will grace the world stage for the eighth straight edition of the tournament since 1998.
Their best placement was 13th overall in 2010.
No stranger to world-class competition, Egypt was recently the lone African representative in the 2024 Paris Olympics in a historic yet winless campaign that had the Pharaohs finish last among 16 teams.
In a late twist, however, the world No. 23 side will not have its captain Mohamed Adel onboard.
Multiple international outlets have reported Adel’s imminent exclusion from Egypt’s World Championship squad, citing ‘disciplinary issues.’
Another Italian in Marco Bonitta looks to maintain Egypt’s formidable stature in the world stage with the star trio of Abdelrhman Elhossiny, Ahmed Azab Abdelrahman and Muhammed Asran taking over in Adel’s last-minute absence.
IRAN (#13): Breakthrough-seeking Asian giants
- FIVB WORLD RANKING: 13
- HEAD COACH: Roberto Piazza (ITA)
- KEY LOSSES: Amin Esmaeilnezhad (OPP), Javad Karimi (S)
Behind Japan at no. 5, Iran is the second-highest ranked Asian team in the world.
It even rose two spots in recent months since being ranked 15th in last year’s FIVB Worlds draw, having won silver the year prior in the Asian Championship to secure qualification in the tournament.
‘Team Melli’ has made great strides in the world stage since debuting in the global conclave back in 1970 and is now on their way to a sixth-straight appearance in Manila.
Six also happens to be Iran’s lucky number in the competition as a top six finish was its best World Championship finish back in 2014.
Unfortunately, their upcoming campaign took a big hit weeks before the competition proper.
Iran’s lethal spiker-setter duo in Amin Esmaeilnezhad and Javad Karimi both suffered injuries during the team’s recent training camps, ruling them out of the fast-approaching World Championship.
Still, Italian shot-caller Roberto Piazza has a sharp scoring tandem in outside hitters Amirhossein Esfandiar and Morteza Sharifi to show the way for Iran’s world stage foray.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
