Men's World Championship 2025

Day 1: History set to be made on the opening match

The first-ever World Championship appearance of hosts the Philippines brings a lot of excitement to Friday’s schedule in Pasay City

Published 01:00, 12 Sept 2025

Setter Joshua Retamar is a fan favorite in the Philippines (Photo: Asian Volleyball Confederation)

The 21^st edition of the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship is set to begin on Friday in Pasay City, and history will be made on the very first day of matches with the long-awaited first appearance of hosts the Philippines in the tournament.

Home to some of the most passionate volleyball fans on the planet, the Philippines will finally get to see their men’s national team compete in one of the biggest stages of the sport on Friday, when they take on Tunisia at 19:00 local time (11:00 GMT) in the tournament’s opening match at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.

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Watch the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship on VBTV

The Pool A first-round match will be the biggest ever played by the Filipino national team, which has never ventured into global tournaments before, having multiple appearances in continental events such as the Asian Championship and the Asian Games in the past.

In order to get more familiar with the level of play they will face in the tournament, the Filipinos recently embarked on a trip to Morocco, Romania and Portugal to boost their preparation for the tournament.

“This is a big tournament, of course, but all of us are ready,” team captain and outside hitter Marck Espejo said. “As a team, we still have a long way to go, but we’ve also come a long way since we started training together, especially during our training camp in Europe. I’ll make the most out of it because this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. This is a huge opportunity, not just for me, but for the growth of men’s volleyball in the Philippines, and I won’t take it for granted.”

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Their opponents Tunisia have way more experience at this level, having appeared in ten editions of the World Championship and seven of the Olympics. In their most recent World Championship appearance, in 2022, the Africans won their first match in the tournament since 2006 to break pool and finish 16^th.

The other two teams in Pool A, Iran and Egypt, will have their opening match in the Philippines on Sunday, at 13:30 local time (5:30 GMT). The best two teams in the pool will advance to the elimination rounds.

2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship: Match Schedule