Day 6: Matches for positioning, ranking and prestige

The sixth competition day at the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship in Thailand will wrap up the pool stage of the tournament with the last matches in Pools E, F, G and H. All eighthfinalists emerging from these pools are already known, but on Wednesday, they will play one another for the first places in their final pool standings and better starting positions in the playoff bracket. The others will try to finish their participation in the World Championship on a high note with their first win and gain valuable experience, prestige and precious FIVB World Ranking points.

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Pool E

Canada and Turkiye will cross swords in Wednesday’s Pool E opening match in Nakhon Ratchasima, dueling for the first place in the table. The winner of that game will top the pool and progress to a match against rookies Slovenia, the runners-up in Pool D, in the eighthfinals, while the losers will finish second and move on to a clash with Pool D winners USA. The last time and the only time Canada have beaten Turkiye over the last 15 years was in a Volleyball Nations League match three years ago.

Later on Wednesday, Bulgaria and Spain will do their best to avoid going home empty-handed as they meet in the last World Championship 2025 game to be played in Nakhon Ratchasima. When it comes to their performances in Thailand so far, Spain have shown a little bit more grit on the court, but from a historical point of view, Bulgaria can be considered favorites. The FIVB World Ranking algorithm also considers the southern Europeans favorites as it would award their western European opponents between 8.94 and 15.19 points in case they win, while Bulgaria would only get between 3.56 and 9,81 points, if they celebrate the victory.

Pool F

China and Dominican Republic will determine the undefeated Pool F winner in a head-to-head encounter on Wednesday evening, which will close the Chiang Mai venue for World Championship business. The winning team is set to take on Pool C runners-up France in one of the eighthfinal fixtures in Bangkok, while the losing side will have to deal with mighty Brazil in an attempt to move further on to the quarterfinals. Having not dropped a single set, Dominican Republic have been more convincing than China in their pool matches so far. They have also won two of the last three meetings between the two teams, but the World Ranking points assigned to the upcoming match place the odds on the Asian powerhouse’s side.

Earlier on Wednesday, in one of the competition day’s opening matches, winless Colombia and Mexico will face each another in their last game of this World Championship campaign. Mexico are the more experienced team of the two, but Colombia have done much better in their recent head-to-head encounters. The South Americans also have the additional incentive of fighting for their first ever World Championship win, after suffering losses in all seven matches they have played so far, between their rookie appearance in 2022 and now, combined. Between 4.82 and 13.93 World Ranking points will change hands, depending on the outcome of this match.

Pool G

The unbeaten Pool G winner will emerge from an all-European clash between Poland and Germany on Wednesday evening in Phuket. The Germans are yet to drop a set at the World Championship, while pool favorites Poland have lost a set in each of their previous two matches. Regardless, whoever wins this last Pool G game will top the pool standings and take on another European team, Pool B runners-up Belgium, in the next round. Yet another all-European eighthfinal will shape up between the Pool G runners-ups and mighty Italy, the reigning Olympic and Volleyball Nations League champions, who topped Pool B. Poland have been largely dominating the head-to-head matches with Germany, whose last win over their neighbors in an official competition dates back to a 2021 VNL game. The World Ranking weights also heavily favor Poland as the likely winner of the upcoming duel.

Before that, winless Vietnam and Kenya will play for the third place in the pool. In a friendly game just before the World Championship, Vietnam produced a straight-set win over Kenya. The Asian team is in its first World Championship campaign and is certainly keen to finish it on a high note with a historic win. The stakes for Kenya are also high. They have played at seven previous editions of the World Championship, but have only won two of their matches so far. The World Ranking stakes favor Vietnam just slightly. Between 5.98 and 12.77 precious points will move from one team’s bucket to the other.

Pool H

Hosts Thailand’s next opponent will emerge from the Pool H first-place decider between Japan and Serbia that will open the competition day in Bangkok. The winner of that match will get to challenge the home team in front of their fantastic fans in an eighthfinal battle. The loser will take on the Netherlands, who topped the Pool A standings. Serbia are the defending world champions of the previous two editions and have not dropped a single set so far in the pool. However, both their World Ranking positions and the results of their last two head-to-head encounters give Japan a favored status in the upcoming battle.

After getting very close to a sensational win over Japan, Ukraine will be keen to get their first victory of this World Championship in the Pool H closing match against Cameroon later in the day. Each of the two teams has recorded only one previous victory in World Championship history and will fight for its second on Wednesday. In terms of World Ranking positions and stakes, Ukraine are the heavy favorites in this match. They will get between 0.01 and 5.84 points, if they beat Cameroon, while the Africans will earn between 12.91 and 19.16 points, if they come out victorious over this European rival.

FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship schedule for Wednesday, August 27, 2025
16:00 local (09:00 UTC): Turkiye v Canada
16:00 local (09:00 UTC): Colombia v Mexico
17:00 local (10:00 UTC): Kenya v Vietnam
17:00 local (10:00 UTC): Japan v Serbia
19:30 local (12:30 UTC): Bulgaria v Spain
19:30 local (12:30 UTC): China v Dominican Republic
20:30 local (13:30 UTC): Poland v Germany
20:30 local (13:30 UTC): Ukraine v Cameroon

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

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