Italy claims back-to-back World Championship crown

Italy extended its reign after beating erstwhile undefeated Bulgaria, 25-21, 25-17, 17-25, 25-10, in the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship final on Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Yuri Romano, Mattia Bottolo and Most Valuable Player Alessandro Michieletto did most of the damage as the Italians captured their second straight title and fifth overall crown.

“Today we played all good, like Yuri and Mattia. I'm very happy because two times in a row it's very difficult to win a World Championship against incredible teams,” Michieletto said.

“I think that we played better against Poland (in the semifinal), but okay, it's no problem.”

Romano, named Best Opposite Spiker, scored 16 of his 22 points from attacks and landed all five of his aces in an amazing barrage of service winners in the second set that allowed Italy to pull away for a commanding 2-0  match lead.

Bottollo had 19 markers from 10 attacks, seven aces and two kill blocks while Michieletto capped his amazing run for the world No. 2-ranked squad with 11 markers.

Best Setter Simone Giannelli dished out 35 excellent sets that allowed Italy to uncork 46 attack points.

The Italians responded to the Bulgarians’ third set uprising with a cold-blooded pounding in the fourth frame. Italy took control with a 14-9 advantage before igniting a closing 8-0 run to complete the victory.

Aleksander Nikolov paced Bulgaria, who came into the game unbeaten in six starts, with 23 points while Martin Atanasov got 11 markers.       

Meanwhile, Nikolov and Michieletto were named Best Open Spikers; Bulgaria’s Aleks Grozdanov and Poland’s Jakub Kochanowski were the Best Middle Blockers while Fabio Balaso got Best Libero.