Belgium take down defending champions Italy and make it to Men's Volleyball World Championship Round of 16

The fifth day of matches of the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship was marked by big upsets at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City as, just a few hours after Finland took down Olympic champions France, Belgium stepped up to beat reigning world champions Italy in the second round of pool play and qualify to the Round of 16.

The Belgians dominated the first two sets and saw the Italians come back to level the score, but were better in the tie-breaker to produce a sensational 3-2 (25-23, 25-20, 22-25, 21-25, 15-13) victory.

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The two points earned with the victory elevated Belgium to five in the Pool F standings. That's enough to get them to the elimination rounds as Italy, which have four points, and Ukraine, which have three after beating Algeria 3-0 (25-17, 25-12, 25-11) earlier on Tuesday, will face off on Thursday in the conclusion of pool play, so only one of them will be able to pass the Belgians.

Opposite Ferre Reggers was huge for Belgium, producing an impressive 31 points (27 kills, two blocks, two aces). Captain Sam Deroo contributed 17 (14 kills, three blocks), one more than fellow outside hitter Seppe Rotty, who got to his production with 12 kills, three blocks and one ace.

"I'm incredibly proud of the team," Deroo said. "Our libero is 19 years old, had never played in a match like this, and was incredible today. Ferre was amazing too, and, honestly, everyone raised their level today. We have a very good balance in our team right now, and things are going very well."

Outside hitter Mattia Bottollo led Italy with 17 points (16 kills, one block), one more than Alessandro Michieletto, who got to 16 with 12 kills, two blocks and two aces.

"It feels like we played two different matches today," Bottolo analyzed. "Our attitude was down in the first two sets. At some moments, I felt that everyone on the team was trying to do too much, and maybe we just needed to play a little bit more as a team. This World Championship has been showing every day that anyone can beat anyone, and we need to keep this in mind. We can learn a lot from this match, and the good thing is that we still have a chance to qualify in two days."

Belgium's offensive efficiency gave them the edge they needed to upset the world champions, as they outscored Italy in kills by 62 to 54 and still managed to come out on top despite having fewer blocks (11 to 14) and giving up more points in errors (32 to 29) - each team registered six aces.

2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship: Match Schedule & Results

The four Pool F teams will conclude their pool play campaigns in Quezon City on Thursday, when Belgium and Algeria play at 14:00 local time (6:00 GMT) and Italy and Ukraine duel at 21:30 (13:30 GMT).

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