The Italian national team’s victory at the recent World Championships in the Philippines highlighted the global strength and growing popularity of volleyball worldwide. The event held in the Philippines was a true global success, culminating in Italy’s gold medal, crowning the world champion for the fifth time in its history.
The World Championships were strongly influenced by the presence of SuperLega Credem Banca players: 55 of the participants will compete in the next Italian championship, not to mention all those who have played in Serie A and the first 10 Italian coaches to coach the Philippines.
World Championships in the Philippines break all attendance records (fivb.com)
Below is the translated text of the FIVB news item detailing the extraordinary success of the last World Championships.
The 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship, held in the Philippines from September 12 to 28, proved to be a spectacular celebration of volleyball. With record-breaking audiences across both television and digital platforms, the tournament highlighted volleyball’s global strength, commercial appeal, and growing popularity.
Global TV Success
From Europe to Asia, the competition saw some of the most-watched live sports broadcasts of the year. The final between Bulgaria and Italy averaged 2.8 million viewers on Rai 2, ranking among the top five most-watched live sports broadcasts in Italy outside of football.
In Bulgaria, the final made history as the first event ever to be simulcast on all four major national networks. In Poland, the semifinal between Poland and Italy attracted 1.9 million viewers on Polsat’s free-to-air channel—nearly a quarter of the national audience in that time slot. During the final weekend, six of the seven most-watched sports broadcasts in Poland were matches from the Men’s World Cup, confirming volleyball’s dominance in one of its strongest markets.
Digital and Social Growth
Volleyball World’s global OTT platform, VBTV, contributed significantly to the overall success, totaling over 5 million views and 180 million minutes watched during the competition.
The Italy-Bulgaria final became the most-watched match ever on VBTV, with 220,000 streams, while the USA-Bulgaria quarterfinal reached 207,000 views.
On social media, the World Championship was one of the most engaging volleyball events ever: over 129,500 new followers were added across Volleyball World’s global channels between the group stage and the quarterfinals. In China alone, localized activities generated 22.1 million interactions and nearly 30,000 new followers, confirming volleyball as one of the fastest-growing sports on digital platforms.
