2025 FIVB Volleyball Women's U21 World Championship

2025 FIVB Volleyball Women's U21 World Championship
Tournament details
Host nationIndonesia
CitySurabaya
Dates7–17 August 2025
Teams24 (from 5 confederations)
Official website
FIVB Women's U21 World Championship 2025

The 2025 FIVB Volleyball Women's U21 World Championship will be the 23rd edition of the FIVB Volleyball Women's U21 World Championship, contested by the women's national teams under the age of 21 of the members of the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), the sport's global governing body. It will be held in Indonesia from 4 to 17 August 2024.[1]

Starting with this edition, the tournament will be expanded to include 24 teams instead of the 16 teams of previous editions following the decision adopted by FIVB in June 2023.[2]

Host selection

On 28 March 2024, FIVB opened the bidding process for member associations whose countries were interested in hosting one of the four Age Group World Championships in 2025 (i.e., U19 Boys' and Girls' World Championships and U21 Men's and Women's World Championships).[3] The expression of interest of the member associations had to be submitted to FIVB by 30 April 2024, 18:00 CEST (UTC+2).[4]

On 10 September 2024, FIVB announced that Indonesia was selected as the host for the 2024 Girls' U21 World Championship.[5]

Qualification

A total of 24 national teams will qualify for the final tournament.[4] In addition to the host team and the defending champions who qualified automatically, 21 other teams will qualify through five separate continental competitions which were required to be held no later than 31 December 2024. Two remaining teams will enter the tournament via the Women's U21 FIVB World Ranking (as of 31 December 2024) among the teams not yet qualified.

The slot allocation per confederation was set as follows:[4]

  • Defending champion (China): 1
  • AVC (Asia & Oceania): 4
  • CAVB (Africa): 3
  • CEV (Europe): 6
  • CSV (South America): 3
  • NORCECA (North, Central America and Caribbean): 4
  • Host: 1
  • Top teams not yet qualified as per Women's U21 FIVB World Ranking: 2
Confederation Qualifying tournament Team qualified Appearances Previous best performance
Total First Last
AVC
(Asia & Oceania) 		Host nation  Indonesia 1st Debut None
Defending champions  China 22nd 1977 2023 Champions (1995, 2013, 2017, 2023)
2024 Asian Women's U20 Championship
(China Jiangmen, 1–9 July) 		 South Korea 14th 1977 2011 Champions (1977, 1981)
 Japan 19th 1977 2023 Champions (2019)
 Thailand 8th 1995 2023 Eighth place (2007)
 Vietnam 1st Debut None
CAVB
(Africa) 		2024 Women's U20 African Nations Championship
(Tunisia Tunis, 24–30 August) 		 Tunisia 4th 1995 2023 Thirteenth place (1995)
 Egypt 10th 2005 2023 Eleventh place 2005
 Algeria 5th 1993 2013 Ninth place 2001
CEV
(Europe) 		2024 Women's U20 European Championship
(Bulgaria Sofia and Republic of Ireland Dublin, 5–17 August) 		 Turkey 12th 1999 2023 Fourth place (2017, 2019)
 Italy 18th 1985 2023 Champions (2011, 2021)
 Poland 13th 1991 2023 Third place (2003)
 Belgium1 3rd 2011 2021 Eighth place (2011)
 Bulgaria 8th 1985 2017 Fourth place (2009)
 Czech Republic 9th2 1985 2015 Sixth place (1991, 1997)
 Croatia 4th 2001 2007 Fifth place (2001)
Women's U21 FIVB World Ranking  Serbia 11th3 1997 2023 Runners-up (2005, 2021)
CSV
(South America) 		2024 Women's U21 South American Championship
(Chile Osorno, 25–29 September) 		 Brazil 23rd 1977 2023 Champions (1987, 1989, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007)
 Argentina 14th 1977 2023 Seventh place (2001)
 Chile 1st Debut None
NORCECA
(North, Central America
and Caribbean) 		2024 Women's U21 NORCECA Championship
(Canada Toronto, 25–30 June) 		 United States 13rd 1977 2023 Fourth place (2011, 2007)
 Puerto Rico 10th 1981 2021 Eighth place (2005)
 Dominican Republic 14th 1995 2023 Champions (2015)
 Canada 6th 1977 1999 Seventh place (1977)
Women's U21 FIVB World Ranking  Mexico 13th 1977 2023 Fourth place (1981)
Notes
1 Belgium's volleyball federation withdrew its team from the competition citing financial problems and excessive travel costs.[6]
2 Competed as Czechoslovakia in 1985 and 1991; 7 appearances as Czech Republic.
3 Competed as Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro in 1997, 1999 and 2005; 8 appearances as Serbia.

Competition formula changes

In June 2023 during a three-day meeting in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, the FIVB Board of Administration approved the proposal made by its Volleyball Council to increase the number of participating teams to 24 in its Age Group World Championships (U19 and U21 in both genders).[7][2] Consequently, the distribution of quotas by confederation for the Women's U21 World Championship was modified regarding previous editions, ensuring one automatic quota for the defending champion and assigning two quotas based on the corresponding FIVB Age Group World Ranking.

The new competition formula was in line with the one adopted for the 2023 FIVB Volleyball Boys' U19 World Championship, which was also contested by 24 teams.[8]

Pools composition

Draw

The draw for the pools composition will held on 4 December 2024 at the FIVB headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.[9] The 24 participating teams will be split into four single round-robin pools of six with the host nations and the reigning world champions receiving the highest seeds. The rest of the qualified teams are seeded in a serpentine system based on their positions in the respective FIVB World Rankings.[10]

Women's U21 FIVB World Ranking of each team as of 30 September 2024 are shown in brackets, except the hosts Indonesia which does not have a world ranking.

Seeded teams Teams to be drawn
Line 1 Line 2 Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3 Pot 4

The draw procedure also followed the serpentine system and was as follows:[10]

  • Teams from pot 4 were drawn first and were placed in line 6 of each pool starting from pool D to pool A.
  • Teams from pot 3 were then drawn and placed in line 5 of each pool starting from pool A to pool D.
  • Teams from pot 2 were then drawn and were placed in line 4 of each pool starting from pool D to pool A.
  • Teams from pot 1 were then drawn and placed in line 3 of each pool starting from pool A to pool D.

The pools composition after the draw was as follow:

Pool A
Pos Team
A1  Indonesia
A2  Argentina
A3  Serbia
A4  Puerto Rico
A5  Canada
A6  Vietnam
Pool B
Pos Team
B1  China
B2  United States
B3  Mexico
B4  Dominican Republic
B5  South Korea
B6  Croatia
Pool C
Pos Team
C1  Italy
C2  Turkey
C3  Egypt
C4  Poland
C5  Algeria
C6  Czech Republic
Pool D
Pos Team
D1  Brazil
D2  Japan
D3  Tunisia
D4  Thailand
D5  Chile
D6  Bulgaria

Format

According to the new competition format, the top four teams from the final standings in each pool will advance to the eighthfinals, while the remaining two will continue their participation in the playoffs for the distribution of the places from 17th to 24th.

Venue

Squads

Main article: 2025 FIVB Volleyball Women's U21 World Championship squads

Preliminary round

Pool A

Pos Team Pld W L Pts SW SL SR SPW SPL SPR
1  Indonesia (H) 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
2  Argentina 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
3  Serbia 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
4  Puerto Rico 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
5  Canada 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
6  Vietnam 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
First match(es) will be played: 7 August 2025. Source: FIVB
(H) Host

Pool B

Pos Team Pld W L Pts SW SL SR SPW SPL SPR
1  China 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
2  United States 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
3  Mexico 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
4  Dominican Republic 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
5  South Korea 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
6  Croatia 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
First match(es) will be played: 7 August 2025. Source: FIVB

Pool C

Pos Team Pld W L Pts SW SL SR SPW SPL SPR
1  Italy 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
2  Turkey 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
3  Egypt 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
4  Poland 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
5  Algeria 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
6  Czech Republic 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
First match(es) will be played: 7 August 2025. Source: FIVB

Pool D

Pos Team Pld W L Pts SW SL SR SPW SPL SPR
1  Brazil 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
2  Japan 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
3  Tunisia 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
4  Thailand 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
5  Chile 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
6  Bulgaria 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
First match(es) will be played: 7 August 2025. Source: FIVB

See also

References

  1. ^ Pratama, Rizky; Afrianti, Desy (11 September 2024). "FIVB Tunjuk Indonesia Jadi Tuan Rumah Kejuaraan Dunia Bola Voli Putri U21 2025" [FIVB Names Indonesia as Host of 2025 Women's U21 Volleyball World Championship]. Kompas TV (in Indonesian). Retrieved 11 September 2024.
  2. ^ a b "FIVB Board Of Administration Approves Key Proposals From FIVB Commissions And Councils". FIVB. 5 July 2023.
  3. ^ "Get Ready For More Volleyball Spectacles: Bidding Process Opens For Age Group World Championships In 2025!" (Press release). FIVB. 28 March 2024. Retrieved 2 September 2024.
  4. ^ a b c "FIVB VOLLEYBALL AGE GROUP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2025 Expression of Interest & Hosting Conditions" (PDF). FIVB. 28 March 2024.
  5. ^ "FIVB U19 and U21 Volleyball World Championships hosts announced!" (Press release). FIVB. 10 September 2024. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
  6. ^ ""Situatie is erger dan verwacht": op zoek naar oorzaak en (verregaande?) gevolgen van besparingen in ons volleybal" ["Situation is worse than expected": looking for the cause and (far-reaching?) consequences of budget cuts in our volleyball] (in Dutch). Sporza. 31 October 2024. Retrieved 12 November 2024.
  7. ^ "Upcoming Volleyball Events Discussed At Volleyball Council Meeting" (Press release). FIVB. 2 December 2022. Retrieved 2 September 2024.
  8. ^ "Formula". Volleyball World. Retrieved 2 September 2024.
  9. ^ "2025 FIVB Volleyball Youth World Championships' pools to be drawn on 4 December". fivb.com. FIVB. 26 November 2024.
  10. ^ a b "Drawing of Lots - Volleyball Youth World Championship 2025". FIVB. 4 December 2024 – via YouTube.