Men's World Championship 2025

Italy shut out Poland to stay on track to defending the crown on Sunday

They will face Bulgaria in Sunday’s crucial battle for the 2025 world title

Published 12:50, 27 Sept 2025

Poland (POL) vs. Italy (ITA) men - Semi-finals #64031822

High-flying Yuri Romano

Defending titleholders Italy will take on Bulgaria in Sunday’s final of the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship in the Philippines. In Saturday’s second semifinal in Pasay City, they produced a stunning shutout of the world’s number one ranked team Poland. The final showdown between Bulgaria and Italy on Sunday will serve off at 18:30 local time (10:30 UTC). Before that, at 14:30 (06:30), Czechia and Poland will battle it out for the bronze.

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

Poland were the first to break away with a four-point lead in the first set. Spearheaded by opposite Yuri Romano, the Italians outspiked their opponents to turn the course of the set around, with outside hitter Mattia Bottolo closing it off with his first point of the match. The second set followed a similar story, with the central Europeans first to break away and the southern Europeans reversing the lead. Still, Poland managed to get in front again at 22-21, but not for long. Their opponents reacted with four in a row crowned by the team’s fourth ace of the set for the closing point, authored by outside Francesco Sani, to double their lead. Poland went for it again in set three and opened a five-point lead. And yet again, Italy found their way back to gain control. A huge pipe kill by star outside Alesandro Michieletto brought in a triple match point. Poland survived the first two Italian opportunities to close the game, but Michieletto himself converted the third to a 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-23) victory.

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Italy outperformed Poland in attack by 34-30 in spike kills and in serving by 7-3 in aces. They also made two fewer unforced errors than the opponents, 23-25. Yuri Romano led the way with a match-high 15 points, including two kill blocks and one ace. Alessandro Michieletto added another 12 points, including one ace.

“We played a crazy game – really good, really strong! We believed we would win, but not like this, for sure. We are very happy, but it’s not finished. Now we’ll try to rest a bit and then tomorrow there is another great game,” Romano told VBTV. “In our last three games we had a great mentality and this is the result. We stay there also when we are behind in the points, with a strong mentality.”

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Poland slightly outdid Italy in blocking, by 10-9 in stuffs. Cuban-born star outside hitter Wilfredo Leon was their most prolific scorer. He put away 12 points in swings and two in kill blocks to tally a total of 14.

“For sure, the situation now is not easy, because we lost the possibility to win the gold medal at a World Championship, but we still have a chance to win a medal. So, it is important for us to go back, try to rest our minds and play our best volleyball tomorrow to grab the medal. A medal is a medal and it’s always nice to win something,” said Poland’s outside Kamil Semeniuk. “Obviously, Italy played a great game tonight. So, congratulations to them for playing amazingly! We had some chances, but we didn’t use them.”