Women's World Championship 2025

Slovenian national volleyball team named country’s Best Women’s Team of 2025

Slovenia achieved a historic breakthrough at the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship

Published 03:23, 12 Dec 2025

Slovenian players celebrate their advancement to the World Championship eighthfinals

The Slovenian women’s national volleyball team received the award for the Best Women’s Team of 2025, as the Sports Journalists Association of Slovenia presented the Sports Persons of the Year awards, honoring the country’s best athletes of the year.

The Slovenian women’s team kicked off the 2025 season with the CEV Golden European League, in which they finished fifth. They went on to secure their fourth CEV European Championship appearance through the continental qualifications held during the summer. The team’s standout achievement of the year was their breakthrough at their debut appearance at the FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship. In Thailand, they advanced from the pool stage to the eighthfinals and ranked among the top 16 teams. During the 2025 season, they climbed several spots up the FIVB World Ranking to finish the year in number 20.

“We are very happy, grateful, and proud to have been chosen as the best women's team of the year. It is an enormous reward for all the work we put in this past summer,” said Slovenia’s 21-year-old opposite Polona Frelih.

Čeprav je Slovenija majhna dežela, premore izjemno veliko vrhunskih športnikov in ekip. Ponosni smo, da je bila prav naša ženska reprezentanca - po izboru Društva športnih novinarjev Slovenije - izbrana za ekipo leta 2025. 🙌🇸🇮

📸 Igor Kupljenik / MI-PRESS pic.twitter.com/AHilm1tQJl
— Odbojkarska zveza Slovenije 🇸🇮 (@SloVolley) December 10, 2025

21-year-old setter Zana Ivana Haluzan Sagadin accepted the award on behalf of the team from former national team player Tina Lipicer Samec.

“I believe this is one of the greatest honors we could receive after such a successful season,” Haluzan Sagadin said. “We know Slovenia has exceptional female athletes, so being chosen among all of them is something to be truly proud of. I am extremely proud of this recognition and of our achievements this as a team.”

This is already the second such recognition for Slovenian volleyball. In 2019, following their EuroVolley silver medal, the Slovenian men’s national team was selected Best Team of the Year. This year, the men’s team finished fourth in the Volleyball Nations League and 11^th at the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship, but that was only enough for a second place in the vote for Slovenia’s Best Men’s Team of 2025.