Trento, 11 September 2025

2025 Fivb World Championship starts: seven Gialloblù players chasing the title

The 2025 Fivb Men's World Championship for national teams officially kicks off on Friday, September 12, in the Philippines. Until September 28, the date of the final in Manila, thirty-two national teams and four hundred and forty-eight players will battle it out in the arenas of Pasay City (where the final will also be played) and Quezon City to win the title currently held by Italy.
Seven players from Trentino Volley are at the starting line, as has often been the case in the recent past among the most represented clubs: Alessandro Michieletto and Riccardo Sbertoli with Italy, Flavio Gualberto with Brazil, Simon Torwie with Germany, Bela Bartha with Romania, Gabi Garcia with the USA, and Théo Faure with France. Of these, only the first three have previous World Championship experience; for all the others, it will be their absolute debut in the tournament. They will also be joined by coach Marcelo Mendez, who will lead Argentina before dedicating himself exclusively to the Gialloblù team.
The tournament format includes a first group stage, where the thirty-two teams will be divided into eight groups of four and will challenge their opponents in a single round-robin from September 12 to 18. The top two teams from each pool will advance to the knockout round of 16 (September 20-23). The quarterfinals will be played on September 24 and 25, and the Final Four will be held on Saturday, September 27 and Sunday, September 28.
The first Trentino player to take the court will be Gabi Garcia, who is in Group D with the USA and will face Colombia (Saturday 13 at 4:00 AM Italian time), Portugal (Monday 15 at 3:00 PM), and Cuba (Wednesday 17 at 11:30 AM) in quick succession. Torwie's Germany will compete in Pool E against Bulgaria (Saturday 13 at 11:30 AM), Chile (Monday 15 at 7:30 AM), and Slovenia (Wednesday 17 at 3:00 PM), while Bartha's Romania returns to the world stage after a forty-three-year wait, playing in Group B against Poland (Saturday 13 at 3:30 PM), the Netherlands (Monday 15 at 12:00 PM), and Qatar (Wednesday 17 at 4:30 AM). In Pool C, the only gialloblù derby will be the one in the first phase between Mendez's Argentina and Faure's France, who will face each other on Thursday 18 at 12:00 PM in their last match. Before that, there will be Argentina-Finland (Sunday 14 at 4:30 AM) and France-Korea (12:00 PM), and then Argentina-Korea (Tuesday 16 at 4:30 AM) and France-Finland (12:00 PM). Flavio's Brazil has been drawn into Group H with China (Sunday 14 at 3:00 PM), the Czech Republic (Tuesday 16 at 4:00 AM), and Serbia (Thursday 18 at 4:00 AM). Finally, the reigning champions from Italy, with Michieletto and Sbertoli, will face Algeria (Sunday 14 at 3:30 PM), Belgium (Tuesday 16 at 3:30 PM), and Ukraine (Thursday 18 at 3:30 PM) in Pool F.
All of Italy's matches and some other games will be broadcast live by RAI Sport and DAZN. The entire tournament will be live-streamed on the OTT platform 'VBTV,' which is a paid service.

Trentino Volley Srl
Press Office