MANILA – World No. 1 Poland had a tough first set but eventually found a way to dispose of Romania, 34-32, 25-15, 25-19, in the FIVB Men’s World Championship at Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City on Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025.
Back with the national team after sitting out the Volleyball Nations League, Polish captain and star opposite Bartosz Kurek delivered 13 points (10 kills, two blocks, one ace).
Outside hitters Wilfredo León had 14 points (11 kills, two aces, one block) and Tomasz Fornal produced 10 (six kills, three blocks, one ace).
“It’s great to be back,” Kurek said in the post-match interview. “The time off I took this season wasn’t exactly planned, and I had to push hard to get back in form and be able to be here with the team. It’s a long tournament and we want to be here until the end. We don’t come in with specific expectations because they are what take you down. We only need to go on the court and approach every match as if it were the final, and then hopefully we’ll get to the real final.”
The three points that came with the sweep put Poland on top of Pool B, ahead of continental rival the Netherlands, which downed Qatar, 25-18, 25-23, 26-28, 25-23, but has a lower set ratio.
The best two teams in each group after three matches will advance to the elimination rounds.
Adrian Aciobănitei was Romania’s most productive player with a team-high 11 points (nine kills, one block, one ace), two more than fellow outside hitter Mircea Peta, who had eight kills and one block.
“It was a tough match for us, but I’m proud of the team and the staff,” Aciobănitei said. “We gave our best, and I’m happy about our performance. The first set was very close, and sadly, we couldn’t win it. But we learned that we need to be more precise and more patient in these moments.”
Upsets rocked the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City, with world No. 24 Portugal beating No. 11 Cuba, 20-25, 25-22, 25-19, 25-19, in their opening Pool D match and No. 14 Bulgaria taking down No. 10 Germany in Pool E, 40-38, 25-22, 25-20.
World No. 5 Team USA also debuted with a 25-20, 25-21, 25-14 victory over Worlds rookie Colombia in Pool D.
“I thought it was a good start,” captain Micah Christenson said. “It was the first time for a lot of our guys in a World Championship match, and I think we didn’t have many ups and downs. Colombia had some good moments during the match, and we showed some maturity to deal with them.”
World No. 6 Slovenia also handily beat Chile, 25-19, 25-20, 25-16, in Pool E. Opposites Tonček Štern and Nik Mujanović topscored for the Europeans with 15 and 13 points, respectively.
Also at Araneta, No. 16 Türkiye swept crowd-favorite No. 7 Japan, 25-19, 25-23, 25-19, in Pool G.
It was Türkiye’s first win over Japan since 2016.
“It’s amazing! This looks like a Japanese hall because they have so many fans. Everybody was against us, so to win 3-0 against this amazing team is a really good accomplishment for us and, let’s say, a little reward for the beginning of the World Championship,” opposite Adis Lagumdzija said. (FIVB MEDIA VIA PNA)