Day 7: Pool play comes to an end with 13 teams fighting for seven spots in the Men's Volleyball World Championship Round of 16

The last day of pool play matches at the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship, Thursday will feel like Decision Day in the Philippines, as seven of the eight spots reserved for Pools A, C, F and H in the tournament's Round of 16 will be up for grabs during the day.

With eight matches scheduled to take place across Pasay City and Quezon City, Belgium are the only team set to start the day guaranteed in the elimination rounds. Tunisia, Iran, the Philippines, Egypt, Argentina, France, Finland, Italy, Ukraine, Brazil, Serbia, Czechia and China, on the other hand, all have hopes of booking their tickets to the Round of 16.

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Pool A

The scenario in Pool A is totally open and unpredictable after each match in the first two rounds had a different winner. With that, hosts the Philippines, Egypt, Iran and Tunisia all get to the last day of pool play at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City with three points and one win and one loss obtained.

That, at the same time, makes the process of determining the two qualified teams as simple as it gets, as the winners of the two matches of the day - Egypt vs. Tunisia, at 13:30 local time (5:30 GMT), and the Philippines vs. Iran, at 17:30 (9:30 GMT) - will be the ones moving forward.

Pool C

In Pool C, three national teams get to the last day of pool phase matches competing for the two spots. The only undefeated among them, Argentina have five points and are followed by back-to-back Olympic champions France, who have four after getting a win and a loss in their first two matches, and Finland, who also had one positive and one negative result, but accumulated only three points. Korea won only one set in two matches and are out of contention with no points earned.

Argentina and France will meet at 18:00 (10:00 GMT) at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City and for both of them, any victory will be enough to progress. Finland face Korea earlier, at 10:30 (2:30 GMT), and will be through no matter what if they win 3-0. They can advance with other results, even a 3-2 loss, but would then depend on the result of the match between Argentines and French to do it.

"The goal is to beat Argentina to qualify and take first place," French middle blocker Barthélémy Chinenyeze stated. "We'll analyze what we did against Finland so we can do better against Argentina."

Pool E

In pool E, Belgium are through thanks to their impressive victory over defending champions Italy, which took them to the top of the standings with five points and two victories. Italians, who have four points with a win and a loss, and Ukraine, who have the same campaign and three points, fight for the remaining spot, while Algeria, who are yet to win a set and sit at the bottom of the standings, will end their participation on Thursday.

Italians and Ukrainians will decide which of them owns the second spot in the Round of 16 in a head-to-head battle, scheduled for 21:30 (13:30 GMT), in Quezon City. Earlier, at 14:00 (6:00 GMT), Belgium will try to beat Algeria to confirm first place in the pool.

"This will be like a Round of 32 match for us," Italian middle blocker Simone Anzani said ."Ukraine have quality players and have been playing together for some years."

Pool H

In Pool H, all four teams have chances of qualifying on Thursday - Brazil (six points, two wins), Serbia (three points, one win and one loss), Czechia (three points, one win and one loss) and China (zero points, two losses). Brazilians and Serbians open the day in Pasay City, at 10:00 (2:00 GMT), while Czechs and Chinese end it 11 hours later.

Sitting at the top of the standings, Brazil are in a strong position to advance and need to win only one set against Serbia to confirm that. Serbians and Czechs have the exact same campaign and whichever of them does best on Thursday should join the South Americans in the Round of 16 - for the two Europeans to advance together, they must both win 3-0. Only one combination of results will get China through as well: they need to beat Czechia 3-0 and hope that Brazil do the same against Serbia.

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

FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship schedule for Thursday, September 18, 2025
10:00 local time (2:00 GMT) – Pool H – Brazil vs. Serbia
10:30 local time (2:30 GMT) – Pool C – Finland vs. Korea
13:30 local time (5:30 GMT) – Pool A – Egypt vs. Tunisia
14:00 local time (6:00 GMT) – Pool F – Belgium vs. Algeria
17:30 local time (9:30 GMT) – Pool A – The Philippines vs. Iran
18:00 local time (10:00 GMT) – Pool C – France vs. Argentina
21:00 local time (13:00 GMT) – Pool H – Czechia vs. China
21:30 local time (13:30 GMT) – Pool F – Italy vs. Ukraine

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