Two eighthfinal spots up for grabs as Cameroon, Japan, Serbia and Ukraine battle it out in Bangkok
Published 01:00, 21 Aug 2025
Japan against Serbia in VNL 2025 action in Ottawa
The most prestigious event in the international volleyball calendar in the 2025 season, the FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship is set to enter a new era later this week, when the 20th edition of the tournament starts in Thailand.
This year’s tournament, which will be held across four cities – Bangkok, Nakhon Ratchasima, Phuket and Chiang Mai - from August 22 to September 7, will go down as the first in the new format, which will see the world title put in dispute every two years.
The event will also be the first to have an expanded field of 32 national teams, allowing more countries to participate in the sport’s main event and generating more opportunities for them to continue their development.
The 32 national teams were split into eight pools of four and will face each of their three opponents during pool play. The top two national teams in each pool will advance to the elimination rounds, which will feature the eighthfinals, the quarterfinals, the semifinals and the medal matches.
Pool play will have as many as 48 matches held in the four host cities between August 22 and 27. For the elimination rounds, the competition moves entirely to Bangkok, which will host the eighthfinals from August 29 to September 1, the quarterfinals on September 3 and 4, the semifinals on September 6 and the medal matches on September 7.
It will be a historic edition of the World Championship and in the days leading up to the start of the tournament, we preview each of the eight pools, giving you all the information you need to tune in to VBTV and enjoy the matches.
Host City: Bangkok
Match Schedule
August 23, 17:00 local (10:00 UTC): Japan v Cameroon
August 23, 20:30 local (13:30 UTC): Serbia v Ukraine
August 25, 17:00 local (10:00 UTC): Japan v Ukraine
August 25, 20:30 local (13:30 UTC): Serbia v Cameroon
August 27, 17:00 local (10:00 UTC): Japan v Serbia
August 27, 20:30 local (13:30 UTC): Ukraine v Cameroon
Cameroon qualified for Thailand 2025 as the bronze medalists of the 2023 CAVB Women's African Nations Volleyball Championship. It will be their fifth appearance, but they are yet to go beyond the pool stage for the first time. In fact, Cameroon have won only one of their World Championship matches in history. They have not played any official matches counting towards the FIVB Volleyball World Ranking since their continental appearance two years ago, so before the start of this edition, they are the number 44 team in the world.
One of the Dream Teamers of the 2023 African Nations Championship, 28-year-old opposite Estelle Adiana, is expected to be a key player for the team in Thailand.
Japan also qualified for Thailand 2025 as continental bronze medalists of the 2023 AVC Asian Women's Volleyball Championship. They finished fourth in this year’s Volleyball Nations League and are now the number five team in the World Ranking. Japan are one of the most decorated nations in the history of the women’s World Championships. They triumphed as titleholders in 1962, 1967 and 1974, took silver in 1960, 1970 and 1978, and bronze in 2010, out of a total of 17 appearances in the competition so far.
At the upcoming tournament, Japan’s Turkish head coach Ferhat Akbas will rely on stellar contribution from a long line of top-caliber international athletes, highlighted by the likes of Nanami Seki, Yukiko Wada, Mayu Ishikawa, Yoshino Sato, Haruyo Shimamura, Airi Miyabe, Manami Kojima, etc.
Serbia have been the reigning world champions for the past seven years, after their triumphant campaigns in 2018 and in 2022, and have qualified for Thailand 2025 as the defending titleholders. It will be the seventh World Championship appearance for Serbia (with its predecessors Yugoslavia and Serbia & Montenegro). However, the team is undergoing a rejuvenation transition and managed to finish only 15th in this year’s VNL, while dropping to number nine in the World Ranking.
Still, in Bangkok, the Serbian team will once again be spearheaded by captain and world-class opposite Tijana Boskovic, the Most Valuable Player of both the 2018 and the 2022 editions of the World Championship. The line-up will feature a number of other experienced world champion players like Maja Aleksic, Teodora Pusic, Bojana Milenkovic, Katarina Dangubic, Sladana Mirkovic, Mina Popovic and Aleksandra Jegdic, while the list of World Championship rookies is highlighted by rising star middle blocker Hena Kurtagic.
Ukraine will return to the World Championship for the first time since their only previous appearance in 1994, when they finished in ninth place. They qualified for Thailand 2025 through the World Ranking, where they currently stand 16th. Thanks to their excellent position in the chart, Ukraine also earned the right to make a historic VNL debut in 2026. Earlier this season, Ukraine won the CEV Volleyball European Golden League.
Ukraine’s 23-year-old setter Daria Sharhorodska, who claimed the Most Valuable Player award in European Golden League 2025, will highlight Polish head coach Jakub Gluszak’s squad at the upcoming World Championship.
Жіноча збірна України з волейболу вже прибула до Таїланду, де відбудуться матчі чемпіонату світу 2025🏐🏆
— volleyball.ua (@volleyballua) August 20, 2025
23 серпня, субота
⏰16:30 Сербія🇷🇸 – Україна🇺🇦
25 серпня, понеділок
⏰13:00 Японія🇯🇵 – Україна🇺🇦
27 серпня, середа
⏰16:30 Україна🇺🇦 – Камерун🇨🇲#volleyball #волейбол pic.twitter.com/9kcmyXzKeH
