Both Japanese teams will continue to delight the home crowd in Kyoto in Saturday’s semifinals of the AVC Men’s Champions League. Suntory Sunbirds Osaka will meet Qatar’s Al-Rayyan in one of the stellar duels for a spot in Sunday’s final and a ticket to the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship. In the other, Osaka Bluteon will take on defending champions Foolad Sirjan Iranian of Iran.

• Watch the AVC Men’s Champions League on VBTV

On Friday evening, Osaka Bluteon celebrated a 3-1 (25-18, 21-25, 25-17, 25-15) quarterfinal victory over Thailand’s Nakhon Ratchasima QminC. Opposite Yuki Nishida’s serving made an important difference in the match as he fired four aces towards the victory. He also raised three kill blocks to finish with a total of 21 points. On a match-high 23 points, his Cuban teammate Miguel Lopez was the best scorer of the game. His tally included three blocks and one ace. Osaka’s other outside hitter Shoma Tomita added another 16 points. Uzbekistani middle blocker Azizbek Kuchkorov was Nakhon Ratchasima most prolific scorer, also with 16 points.

Earlier on Friday, Foolad Sirjan Iranian produced a 3-1 (24-26, 25-21, 28-26, 25-23) win over China’s Shanghai Bright. With three aces and two kill blocks to his name, outside hitter Amirhossein Esfandiar led the way with a total of 24 points. Opposite Ali Hajipour added another 18. Cuban middle Javier Concepcion, who raised four kill blocks, and outside Alireza Abdolhamidi chipped in 10 points apiece. Opposite Wu Pengzhi led Shanghai with 22.

Al-Rayyan were the first team to book a semifinal berth. On Thursday, inspired by Malian outside Noumory Keita’s 25-point match-high, including five aces, and Dutch opposite Nimir Abdel-Aziz’s 23 points, including two blocks, the Qatari squad delivered a 3-1 (25-20, 25-18, 23-25, 25-20) victory over Kazakhstan’s Aqtobe. Slovenian outside Tine Urnaut with 11 points and middle Papemaguette Diagne (six kill blocks) with 10 also reached the double digits on Al-Rayyan’s side. Russian opposite Nikita Shvalev was Aqtobe’s leading scorer with 15 points.

Suntory Sunbirds Osaka were the only team to achieve their quarterfinal victory in straight sets, as they mastered a 3-0 (27-25, 25-20, 25-9) shutout of Bahrain’s Al-Muharraq on Thursday evening. Russian opposite Dmitriy Muserskiy and outside hitter Ran Takahashi led the Japanese team with 17 and 15 points, respectively. Al-Muharraq’s Swedish opposite Jacob Link put away 13 points.

On Saturday, at the Shimadzu Arena in Kyoto, Al-Rayyan and Suntory Sunbirds will take to the court at 12:05 local time (03:05 UTC), while Foolad and Osaka will take their turn four hours later, at 16:05 (07:05).

AVC Men’s Champions League 2025 semifinals:
May 17, 12:05 local (03:05 UTC): Al-Rayyan (QAT) v Suntory Sunbirds Osaka (JPN)
May 17, 16:05 local (07:05 UTC): Foolad Sirjan Iranian (IRI) v Osaka Bluteon (JPN)

AVC Men’s Champions League 2025: schedule, results, statistics and standings

Quick links:
VBTV
Volleyball World Facebook
Volleyball World X
Volleyball World Instagram
Volleyball World YouTube
Subscribe to Volleyball World's Newsletter