Philippines bids for 2025 FIVB Men's World Championship hosting

The Philippines on Thursday formalized its bid to host the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship.

The tournament will be held from September 12 to 28, 2025.

“As they say, teamwork makes the dream work and this meeting is a first major step towards the dream of a successful bid and eventual hosting of the men’s world championship,” Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) president Ramon “Tats” Suzara said on Thursday during a briefing for the hosting.

Present in the meeting were Senator Pia Cayetano, Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco and FIVB executives Volleyball World CEO Finn Taylor and Chief Business Officer Guido Betti.

Also present in the meeting were Philippine Sports Commission chairman Richard Bachmann, Philippine Olympic Committee secretary-general Atty. Warton Chan, and representatives of Senators Alan Peter Cayetano and Sonny Angara. 

The Philippines will bank on the success of the hosting of the Volleyball Nations League which it hosted in 2022 and 2023. 

Should the country win the bid, the Mall of Asia Arena and the Smart Araneta Coliseum are eyed to be venues for the tournament.

"The VNL last year at the MOA Arena was the best event of the VNL and we had 14 stops around the world,” Finn said. 

“It shows that the Philippines has embraced the best of volleyball and we were able to see that not only the fans embraced the players but teams embraced the fans.”

Betti echoed Finn and said, "We see a massive potential in the Philippines. We decided to bring the VNL here two years ago and the fandom was crazy. We’re overwhelmed and with that being said, players will be happy to come back.”

The results of the bid will be announced in March.

—JKC, GMA Integrated News