GOOD things come in pairs.
Less than a week from now, the world will bear witness to some of the men’s game’s best 1-2 punches when the Philippines hosts the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship.
READ: Bagunas, Espejo join forces anew to show how far PH volleyball has come
A record 32 teams will descend on local shores for the biggest prize in men’s volleyball.
From fan-favorite duos to sibling acts, here are eight must-watch tandems and a bonus pair that Filipino fans, in particular, can’t wait to see back on court together.
Ran Takahashi and Yuki Ishikawa (Japan)
For Filipino fans, this duo needs no introduction.
Arguably one of the most lethal 1-2 punches in world volleyball today in Japan’s Ran Takahashi and Yuki Ishikawa have won the hearts of their legions of fans worldwide.
The endearing Takahashi is among the central figures of Ryujin Nippon’s new generation at just 24 years old.
He has played in the grandest of stages the game has, with an Asian championship and a collection of silver and bronze medals in the VNL.
Ran also saw action in the top-flight leagues of powerhouse nations Italy, where he won three silvers with Vero Volley Monza, and currently in Japan with reigning SV.League champion Suntory Sunbirds.
Ishikawa, 29, has one of the most decorated sporting resumes in the game as a key scoring weapon and captain of Ryujin Nippon.
With eight best outside hitter nods and three MVPs to his name, along with two Asian titles and two VNL medals, the Japan skipper has honed his craft for the last 11 years with six clubs in Italian top-flight volleyball.
Ishikawa is now out to add what could be the most important piece of silverware yet in his and Japan’s collection.
Micah Christenson and Erik Shoji (USA)
The only non-scoring duo on this list is one Filipino fans have learned to love in their first visit to Manila in VNL 2024.
Among the veteran stars in this year’s field, Christenson, 32, still stands as one of the finest playmakers in the game today even after over a decade.
The Hawaiian setter has brought 15 medals to USA Volleyball over the years, including three continental titles, two FIVB World Cup wins, and an FIVB World League title.
Apart from his two Olympic bronze medals, he even has two MVPs and seven best setter plums under his belt, including two top playmaker citations in two of the last three VNL tournaments.
Having played alongside his longtime pal Christenson for nearly the entire duration of their Team USA careers, 6-foot Shoji has emerged as a world-class libero.
Also part of USA’s bronze-medal run in the 2024 Paris Olympics, the 36-year-old floor general has won 11 domestic titles across Poland, Austria, and Germany. along with seven positional awards.
Alessandro Michieletto and Simone Giannelli (Italy)
The defending world champions will parade some of the best stars to have ever graced the game.
Leading the front for the Azzurri are multi-awarded aces in captain Simone Giannelli and Alessandro Michieletto.
Giannelli, 29, became just the third Italian and third setter to win tournament MVP in the last edition of the global conclave in 2022.
He is also a 13-time best setter across various club, continental, and international competitions, having most recently won the award in the 2025 Volleyball Nations League (VNL) earlier this year.
Michieletto, 23, will literally and figuratively be a tall order to deal with on the world stage.
At 6-foot-11, the young Ale has already earned a handful of MVP and best outside hitter awards in roughly seven years from the juniors ranks to the early days of his pro league and seniors’ national team forays.
Among his major breakthroughs to date are back-to-back best outside hitter nods in the FIVB Club World Championship with Itas Trentino, the same plum in this year’s VNL, and MVP in the European (CEV) Champions League.
Wilfredo Leon and Jakub Kochanowski (Poland)
The world No. 1 side will be a team on a mission in this year’s World Championship in pursuit of reclaiming lost glory.
After rare letdowns in the 2022 Worlds and the 2024 Olympics, Poland will bank on its heralded duo of Wilfredo Leon and Jakub Kochanowski to bring the top-ranked nation back to its golden throne.
Set to take center stage for the Polish team is 32-year-old top gun Wilfredo Leon, who missed the global tilt three years ago with a knee injury.
Since his untimely absence, Leon went on to win the 11th of his 12 international best outside hitter awards before being named European MVP and VNL best outside hitter earlier this year.
In total, he is emblazoned with five MVP nods for multiple European clubs across Europe and country — both for Poland and Cuba where he was born before receiving Polish citizenship in 2015.
Now the new-generation face of Poland, Kochanowski cemented his stature as one of the world’s most unassailable middle blockers at just 28 years old.
He is now a three-time VNL best middle blocker, having previously won the same award in the 2024 Olympics, and was even named VNL 2025 MVP, the first middle blocker to win the award in tournament history.
Trevor Clevenot and Théo Faure (France)
World domination is second nature for the Frenchmen, as far as men’s volleyball is concerned.
Gold medalists in the last two Olympics, Trevor Clevenot and Théo Faure are out to win the only major tournament France has yet to win: the World Championship.
Clevenot, 31, will carry his veteran smarts to the world stage once more as one of France’s most bemedaled volleyall stars with two Olympic golds, two World League golds, and two VNL golds on hand.
The reigning Olympic best outside hitter has also won five club championships in Poland and Turkey, two volleyball powerhouse nations in their own right.
At just 25, young Faure is already a proven winner early into his career and is shaping up to be the face of French volleyball in the years to come.
In a star-studded VNL 2025 field, Faure finished second overall in scoring, attacking, and serving for the Roosters during the preliminaries.
He also has a French Championship and French SuperCup to his name, which not a lot of homegrown players have won at a young age.
Alan Souza and Darlan Souza (Brazil)
The first of two brother duos on this list, Brazil’s Souzas have long shone with all the stars of the men’s game.
This year in Manila, they’re out to keep the Brazilians standing on the global conclave’s prestigious podium after winning bronze in 2022.
Alan, the elder of the two, has his name etched among the world’s best-ever opposite hitters at 31 years old.
He was at the forefront of Brazil’s golden campaigns in the VNL, FIVB World Cup, Pan American Cup, and two South American Championships over the span of a decade.
A seven-time domestic champion, Alan has four best opposite hitter nods and three MVP plums both as a rising star in the youth level and as a seasoned pro.
Just like his brother, 23-year-old Darlan is on a quest to keep the Souza name at the core of any discussion on the world’s best opposites.
Part of the Brazil team that won bronze in VNL 2025 and the 2022 Worlds, Darlan will be at the frontline of the Canarinhos’ fourth gold-medal bid in Manila.
Simeon Nikolov and Aleksandar Nikolov (Bulgaria)
From one sibling act to another, the youngest duo on the list - and even in the tournament altogether - is keen on leaving a strong first impression in Manila.
The Nikolovs form a lethal spiker-setter tandem that will continue to make waves for Bulgaria on the world stage in years to come.
It has only been three years since Aleks, 21, decided to turn pro and moved up the ranks as part of the seniors national team and he is now a silver medalist in Italian top flight with Cucine Lube Civitanova.
He first took his talents to the U.S. NCAA where he won silver with California State University, Long Beach and was part of the all-tournament team.
Aleks went on to win the 2021 FIVB U19 World Championship with Bulgaria where he was crowned best outside spiker. He won the same plum a year later in the European under-20s.
His younger brother Simeon, at only 18 years old, will be one of the youngest players in the tournament. Still, he has already braved major tournaments early into his budding career.
He played in the same U.S. NCAA team with his brother after a brief stint with a Bulgarian under-19 club team and is now part of Russian club Lokomotiv Novosibirsk.
Agustín Loser and Luciano Palonsky (Argentina)
Loser by name, winner in nature.
With Agustín Loser manning the middle and Luciano Palonsky at the wing, Argentina has established a steady presence among the world’s elite in the men’s game.
Nine years into his national team career with La Selección, 27-year-old Loser has proved to be a serial winner for club and country.
One of the best middle blockers of the new generation already has a quadruple of domestic titles in Italy and Argentina since winning three golds and two silvers for his homeland’s youth national team.
Thrice a best middle blocker winner, Loser also topped the blocking department of the 2022 Worlds preliminaries by a distant margin with 3.40 blocks per set.
Another seasoned veteran in Palonsky has been an integral piece of La Selección’s success in both youth and seniors ranks for the last decade, also being a former best outside hitter.
Having built a stable pro career with four titles in Argentina and France, the two-time Pan American champion at just 26 years old will man the ship in his country’s bid for a breakthrough gold and second-ever Worlds medal.
Bryan Bagunas and Marck Espejo (Philippines)
The Philippines has something to prove to the world, too.
Now back in full strength, two pillars of the local men’s game in Bryan Bagunas and Marck Espejo look to take the world stage by storm and lead Alas Pilipinas to unprecedented breakthroughs.
In a tournament of many firsts, the Bagunas-Espejo duo that long stood on opposite sides of the court in the college ranks will embark on their first tour of duty for the country in nearly three years since the 2022 Asian Games.
But together, they aren’t strangers to making history for the Philippines on home soil.
Their monumental foray in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games in Manila marked the country’s first finals appearance and podium finish in the biennial meet in 42 years.
Toppling five-time champion Thailand in a riveting 17-25, 25-20, 23-25, 27-25, 17-15 semifinals win was the first of what Bagunas and Espejo could add in terms of major international milestones in the World Championship.
With MVP awards, top outside hitter nods, and championships aplenty, having ruled the local scene for so long and played overseas in countries like Japan, Thailand, Bahrain, and Taiwan, expect nothing less than power and heart when Bagunas, Espejo, and the rest of Alas Men raise the flag high and proud on the grandest stage of world men’s volleyball.
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