Tunisia on to eighthfinals after shutting out Egypt at Men’s Volleyball World Championship

Tunisia won the crucial North African derby with Egypt and advanced to the eighthfinals of the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship in the Philippines. In a do-or-die Pool A battle in Pasay City, the Tunisians swept the game in straight sets and secured the first place in the final pool standings on a 2-1 win-loss record, 6 points and a 7-3 set record. In their eighthfinal match, they will take on the Pool H runners-up – Czechia, Brazil or Serbia.

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Tunisia outperformed Egypt in all scoring counts on the way to an emphatic 3-0 (25-19, 25-18, 25-22) shutout, with 21-year-old middle Mahdi Ben Tahar monster-blocking for the winning point. With this result, Tunisia jumped seven spots up the FIVB World Ranking to number 33, while Egypt plummeted six positions down to number 28.

Tunisia’s 22-year-old outside hitter Oussama Ben Romdhane authored four of the team’s five aces and two of the team’s seven kill blocks to finish with a total of 14 points. He shared the match top scorer honors with cross-court teammate Elyes Karamosli, who also fired 14 points, all in swings. Opposite Ali Bongui spiked at a 67% success rate and added an ace to finish a close second on the best scorers chart with 13 points to his name.

In addition to outplaying Egypt by 42-32 in spike kills, by 7-4 in kill blocks and by 5-3 in serving aces, Tunisia also made fewer unforced errors than their opponents, 20-21. Egypt’s scorers were led by opposite Seif Abed with 12 points and outside Ahmed Shafik with 10.

“Of course, we are very happy, because from the beginning of the World Championship we knew that we needed to win the match against Egypt, which is also an African derby, in order to qualify for the next round,” Ben Romdhane told VBTV. “I want to thank all my teammates. There are many young players and it was their first World Championship, so I also want to thank them and all the staff, as well as all the fans here.”

The remaining eighthfinal ticket available in Pool A will also be contested in a direct duel later on Thursday, as hosts Philippines take on Iran at 17:30 local time (09:30 UTC).

2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship: full schedule and results

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