Defending champions USA will take on Bulgaria in the final of the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Girls’ U19 World Championship in Osijek, Croatia on Sunday. Both teams won their respective semifinals at the Gradski Vrt Hall in Osijek on Saturday to qualify for the final. While USA beat Poland in straight sets, Bulgaria edged out Türkiye by 3-2 in a closely contested match. The playoff battles will continue at all levels of the bracket to determine the final standings from first to 24th place.

Final: USA v Bulgaria
3^rd place match: Türkiye v Poland
5^th place match: China v Italy
7^th place match: Brazil v Japan
9^th place match: Croatia v Argentina
11^th place match: Mexico v Chinese Taipei
13^th place match: Belgium v Thailand
15^th place match: Serbia v Germany
17^th place: Spain
18^th place: Canada
19^th place: Puerto Rico
20^th place: Chile
21^st place: Peru
22^nd place: Egypt
23^rd place: Dominican Republic
24^th place: Tunisia

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Semifinals

Defending champions USA ended Poland’s unbeaten run at the World Championship after thrashing the Europeans in straight sets (25-14, 25-18, 25-19) to storm the final. Poland had reached the semifinals without a loss in eight matches including a 3-2 win over USA in the preliminaries. However, the Americans completely dominated Poland in attack (37 to 26 spike kills), blocking (12 to 3 stuff blocks) and serving (8 to 3 aces) on Saturday to remain in contention for a second consecutive title. Outside hitter Suliane Davis was unaplayable on the night, recording a match-high 18 points (13, 3, 2) for USA. Opposite Henley Anderson also reached double digits with 11 points (6, 3, 2) while Natasza Ornoch was Poland’s best scorer with 8 points (6, 0, 2).

“It’s a great win for us. Poland is fantastic team and to be able to compete with them at this level and come out as winners is such a great honour. We have been improving with every game since we have only been together as a team for like three weeks now. Going to the final on the back of such a result gives us a lot of confidence,” said USA captain Genevieve Harris. “It would be mean the world to us to defend our title because having a World Championship medal is a once in a lifetime opportunity. We want to pour our hearts into that game and fight for our country and the sport that we love.”

Bulgaria outlasted Türkiye once again in the tie-breaker to qualify for the final of the World Championship where they will vie for the title with defending champions USA. It was the second meeting between the two European rivals and it’s Bulgaria’s superiority in attack (63 to 51 spike kills) and serving (8 to 6 aces) which propelled them to the slim 3-2 (25-23, 18-25, 25-21, 23-25, 15-09) victory. Opposite Alexandra Kitipova fired 4 aces and added another 11 spike kills and 2 stuff blocks for her tally of 17 points. But it’s her teammate, the evergreen Kalina Veneva who topped the scoring charts with 25 points (22, 2, 1). Outside hitter Ceylin Kuyan shone for Türkiye with 20 points (15, 1, 4) while the 15-year-old opposite Aylin Uysalcan added 17 points (15, 2, 0).

“It was a really tough game and I’m happy that the girls responded well once again when faced with difficult situations. I knew we had to be at our best today because this summer we have played against Türkiye three times and won. However, they have been improving with every game and today they gave us another tough game. It was a good team effort and a pleasure to beat them four times in a row,” said Bulgaria coach Atanas Petrov. “We have nothing to lose in the final, USA are the world champions so definitely they are the favourites. But we are also the European champions so they should expect a big fight.”

5 - 8 Semifinals

China bounced back from their 3-1 quarterfinal loss to Türkiye by defeating Brazil with a similar margin (23-25, 27-25, 27-25, 28-26) in the 5^th place playoff semifinals at the Gradski Vrt Hall in Osijek. Outside hitter Yexuan Cao inspired China’s comeback with 20 points (15, 5, 0) while opposite Luize Da Silva Tavares replied for the South American champions with a game-high 22 points (19, 3, 0).

Italy completed a double over Japan to qualify for Sunday’s 5^th place playoff final against China. In what was the second encounter between these two teams in this competition, the Europeans had to dig deep to overcome Japan in five sets (16-25, 25-20, 26-28, 25-22, 15-07) this time around. Outside hitter Ludovica Tosini returned 16 points (15, 1, 0) for Italy while Japan’s opposite Rion Chuganji posted a massive 29 points (26, 2, 1), the highest by any player in the tournament so far. Following the loss, Japan will contend for 7^th place with Brazil on Sunday.

9 - 12 Semifinals

Croatia booked the first spot in Sunday’s 9th place playoff final. In the late game in Vrnjacka Banja on Saturday, they mastered a 3-0 (25-19, 25-16, 25-20) shutout of Mexico, who will compete for the 11th place on the last competition day of the tournament. Croatia’s outside and captain Lana Francetic (11, 1, 1) and her Mexican counterpart Naomi Alejandra Cruz (11, 2, 0) jointly topped the scorers chart of the match with 13 points each.

Argentina will challenge Croatia for 9th place. They earned the spot with a 3-1 (14-25, 25-20, 25-15, 25-18) turnaround against Chinese Taipei, who will be Mexico’s opponent for the 11th place. Outside and captain Julieta Arianne Ruelli powered the South Americans with a match-high 19 points (15, 2, 2), while 15-year-old middle Wu Tzu-Hua (9, 0, 4) and 16-year-old opposite Xu Zhen-Xuan (12, 0, 1) delivered 13 points apiece for the Asian team.

13 - 16 Semifinals

In a hard-fought battle, Belgium came back from a set down twice before celebrating a 3-2 (22-25, 25-20, 18-25, 25-23, 15-10) victory over hosts Serbia in Vrnjacka Banja on Saturday to set up a meeting with Thailand for the 13th place on Sunday. Serbia will have to face Germany in a duel for the 15th place. Belgium’s 16-year-old middle blocker Flore Maes (15, 1, 3) and Serbia’s opposite Marija Babalj (17, 1, 1) shared the top-scorer honors of the game with 19 points each.

Thailand came back from two sets down to produce a spectacular reverse sweep of Germany and continue in Sunday’s match for the 13th place. The European team will battle for 15th. Mostly capitalizing on opponent errors and outside Wisaruta Sengna’s match-high 22 points (18, 0, 4), the Asian squad mounted a 3-2 (22-25, 21-25, 25-22, 25-16, 15-9) victory. Opposite Marie Steinhilber was Germany’s most prolific scorer with 20 points (18, 0, 2).

17-18 Final

As the tournament rankings continue to take shape, Spain settled for 17^th place after edging out Canada by 3-2 (17-25, 25-17, 10-25, 25-23, 15-09) in a classification match. Captain Inés Losada Gordaliza returned a game-high 22 points (19, 1, 2) for the Spaniards while outside hitter Sofia Zabjek replied with 18 points (14, 1, 3) for Canada, who ended the competition at position 18.

19-20 Final

Chile wound up their World Championship campaign in 19^th place after beating Puerto Rico 3-1 (25-12, 19-25, 25-20, 27-25) in a classification match on Saturday. Opposite Javiera Núñez Ibaceta led the South Americans with a game-high 18 points (15, 3, 0) while Puerto Rico, who settled for 20^th place, had outside hitter Cherisse Binex Atilano Narvaez as their best performer with 14 points (11, 1, 2).

21-22 Final

Peru occupied the 21st place after claiming a tight 3-1 (28-26, 25-12, 24-26, 25-24) win over Egypt, who ended up 22nd in the final standings. Peru’s outside hitter Waleska Toro put away a match-high 19 points (15, 2, 2). Her counterpart Gena Mohamed (Jina) led Egypt with 15 points (13, 1, 1).

23-24 Final

Dominican Republic finished 23rd in the final tournament standings after taking a 3-1 (25-23, 12-25, 25-23, 25-20) win over Tunisia at the Trstenik hall near Vrnjacka Banja and leaving their African opponents at the bottom of the standings, in 24th place. 15-year-old opposite Rayni Merab Mondesi led the Caribbean squad with a match-high 24 points (20, 3, 1). On the other end, opposite Sinda Ben Hamida once again emerged as Tunisia’s top scorer with 15 points (10, 3, 2).

2025 FIVB Volleyball Girls’ U19 World Championship: schedule and results

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