Women's World Championship 2025

Brazil to take on Italy in titanic semifinal clash

They beat a fighting France in World Championship’s third quarterfinal

Published 12:25, 04 Sept 2025

Brazil (BRA) vs. France (FRA) women - Quarter-finals #57886712

Brazil’s playmaker Roberta in action

Mighty Brazil and Italy are set to lock horns in a titanic semifinal duel at the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship in Thailand on Saturday. It was another titanic duel that the South Americans had to win against a fighting and spirited France in the first of Thursday’s two quarterfinal matches in Bangkok.

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

The first two sets of the game offered plenty of drama for the fans and were both pushed to overtime before being resolved. In set one, France wiped out a four-point Brazilian lead to level the score before saving two opponent set points and conceding on the third one. In set two, it was the Europeans that had a four-point advantage. The South Americans came back and were the first to reach set point with a two-point lead. France scored three in a row to gain the initiative, but then failed to convert five opportunities to take the set as it went deeper and deeper into overtime. On the fifth set point of theirs, Brazil finally managed to put an end to it all at 33-31. The third set was also very competitive through 11-11, after which the South Americans managed to break away and never looked back until outside hitter Julia Bergmann fired the match winner to fix the final 3-0 (27-25, 33-31, 25-19) victory.

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With setter Roberta Ratzke skillfully distributing the Brazilian attacks, all five of her spikers reached the double digits in scoring. Bergmann led the way with 17 points, all in swings. Outside and captain Gabriela Guimaraes (Gabi) added 13, including an ace, while opposite Rosamaria Montibeller chipped in with 12 spike kills at a 63% success rate in attack. Middle blockers Diana Alecrim (80% success rate in attack, 1 ace) and 22-year-old Julia Kudiess (64% success) finished with 10 points each, but that included all of the team’s eight kill blocks as they authored five and three of those, respectively.

“First of all, congratulations to France! They are doing an amazing job. In such a little time they became such an amazing team. They fight all the time and you can see the joy, when they play,” Bergmann told VBTV. “But I am so happy we won. We deserve this. We fought for every ball. Compared to the beginning of the VNL, we got so much better. It’s amazing to see how far we’ve come, how far we can still go, so I’m very, very proud of my team.”

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Charismatic outside and captain Helena Cazaute once again led her team in battle in an impressive fashion. She delivered a match-high 20 points and is currently 10 points clear on top of the World Championship’s best scorers ranking. Her tally featured one ace and one kill block. Opposite Iman Ndiaye added another 15 points, all in spikes, while outside Amelie Rotar put away 10 points, including a block.

“It is definitely tough to lose, when you look at how we played at this tournament. It feels really bad now, but I think we can be proud of what we did at this World Championship,” Ndiaye commented. “Seeing how far this group has come, I am happy that we ended up where we are now. Obviously, Brazil is a very strong team and it was a game where we wanted to leave everything on the court.”