The battle for men's volleyball status

At 5:30 p.m. on September 27, Poland and Italy will face each other in the semi-final match of the 2025 Men's Volleyball World Championship.

Striker Batosz Kurek (6) is an important player for the Polish team despite being 37 years old - Photo: FIVB

This is a high-stakes match, and the winner is likely to win the title this year. Poland are back-to-back world champions in 2014 and 2018. They were close to a hat-trick when they played on home soil in 2022. But Italy prevented that by beating Poland in the final.

The result was a story to tell. With their stunning victory, Italy retained their status as the only team to have won the men's volleyball world championship three times in a row (1990, 1994, 1998). They also became the second most successful team in history (4). The former Soviet Union still holds the record with six titles, while Poland and Brazil each have three.

After the 2022 final, both volleyball teams continue to maintain a fierce competition. Not only in the annual playground like Volleyball Nations League, they also face each other at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The two teams have had back-and-forth results, creating a match with too much fate. The last time they met was in the 2025 Volleyball Nations League final, and Poland won overwhelmingly 3-0.

Currently, this team is also ranked number 1 in the world. And Italy is the second team. With the ranking on the world rankings, as well as the continuous fate over the years, it is easy to understand why Poland vs Italy is considered a big match even though it is not the final.

It will be a confrontation not only between two strong volleyball teams, but also between a series of world-class stars. On the Polish side, their best scorer is 37-year-old opposite player Batosz Kurek. He is considered a hero who has led the current "golden generation" of Polish volleyball. In 2018, Kurek won the world championship after scoring 171 points. This is almost the last time he competes in this playground.

On the Italian side, striker Alessandro Michieletto is the best scorer at the moment, and he is 13 years younger than Kurek. Despite his young age, this athlete was part of the Italian team that won the World Cup 3 years ago. Currently, he is one of the best strikers in the world.

This will certainly be one of the most interesting matches of this year's Men's Volleyball World Championship. Before that, at 13:30, is the semi-final match between Czech Republic and Bulgaria.

DUC KHUE

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/cuoc-chien-vi-the-cua-bong-chuyen-nam-20250927001540759.htm