ALAS Pilipinas Men’s historic breakthrough in the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship was a breath of fresh air in terms of letting local talent shine on the grandest stage and under the brightest lights.
READ: Alas Men make history after taking first FIVB Worlds win vs Egypt
The men’s volleyball national team took a different route in forming its 14-strong FIVB Worlds roster amid the recurring trend of either acquiring Fil-foreign players by shifting federations or searching for prospective candidates for naturalization.
All 14 players of Alas Men who are part of the first national team to win a match in volleyball’s biggest competition are homegrown Filipinos.
The squad is comprised of outside hitters Marck Espejo, Buds Buddin, Jade Disquitado, Vince Lorenzo, and captain Bryan Bagunas.
They are backed by the opposite hitter duo of Leo Ordiales and Louie Ramirez, along with the middle blocker troika of Kim Malabunga, Peng Taguibolos, and Lloyd Josafat.
Completing the Nationals’ history-making cast are setters Owa Retamar and Eco Adajar and liberos Josh Ybanez and Jack Kalingking.
All-Filipino. All-heart.
Four Fil-foreign aces were considered for the FIVB Worlds team in Elijah Tae-Yin Kim (Korea), Lucca Mamone (Italy), and Steven Rotter and Jackson Reed (USA).
Rotter was the closest to making it to the final squad before the FIVB blocked his entry due to citizenship-related eligibility issues.
While it isn’t diminishing per se for national federations to search for Filipino talents with foreign blood to boost the country’s competitive chances in international play, nothing embodies Filipino pride more than a full-fledged local selection etching themselves into the annals of Philippine sporting lore for the rest of the world to see.
“This was not just for you and for the Filipinos, but this team was with me for 16 months, and I saw how they improved to play,” said head coach Angiolino Frigoni, who brings the lone foreign flair to Alas Men from the sidelines.
“I was waiting for them to win one match to show to everybody how we improved in these 16 months. That finally happened and I’m very happy for it.”
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