The 2023 FIVB Volleyball Men's U21 World Championship was the 22nd edition of the FIVB Volleyball Men's U21 World Championship, the biennial international junior volleyball championship contested by the men's national teams under the age of 21 of the members associations of the FIVB (FIVB), the sport's global governing body. It was held in Manama, Bahrain from 7 to 16 July 2023.

Athletes must born on or after 1 January 2003.

Italy were the defending champions but failed to defend their title. Iran claimed their second title of U21 World Championship by defeating Italy 3–2 in the final match. Bulgaria hammered out a 3–0 shutout of Argentina to earn the bronze medals. Amir Mohammad Golzadeh from Iran was chosen to be the MVP of the tournament.

Host selection On 2 June 2022, FIVB opened the bidding process for member associations whose countries were interested in hosting one of the four Age Group World Championships in 2023 (i.e., Boys' and Girls' U19 World Championships and Men's and Women's U21 World Championships). The expression of interest of the member associations had to be submitted to FIVB by 29 July 2022, 18:00 CEST (UTC+2).

FIVB announced the hosts for its four Age Group World Championship on 24 January 2023, with Bahrain being selected to host the 2023 Boys' U21 World Championship. This will be the fourth time that Bahrain hosts the FIVB Boys' U21 World Championship having previously done so in 1987, 1997 and 2019.

Qualification A total of 16 national teams qualified for the final tournament. In addition to Bahrain who qualified automatically as the host, 10 other teams qualified through five separate continental competitions which were required to be held by 31 December 2022 at the latest. The remaining 5 teams entered to the competition by the Men's U21 FIVB World Ranking among the teams not yet qualified.

The slot allocation was set as follows: AVC (Asia & Oceania): 2 CAVB (Africa): 2 CEV (Europe): 2 CSV (South America): 2 NORCECA (North, Central America and Caribbean): 2 Host: 1 Top teams not yet qualified as per Men's U21 FIVB World Ranking: 5

ConfederationQualifying tournamentTeam qualifiedAppearancesPrevious best performanceTotalFirstLastAVC2022 Asian Men's U20 Championship14th19932021 (2019)8th19812013 (2009)Men's U21 FIVB World Ranking3rd19992021 (1999)Host nation6th19872021 (1987, 2019)CAVB2022 Men's U21 African Nations Championship14th19812021 (2003)13th19852019 (1999, 2005)CEV2022 Men's U20 European Championship16th19852021 (2021)12th19892021 (1997, 2003, 2017)Men's U21 FIVB World Ranking4th20092021 (2021)10th19852021 (1991)4th20172021 (2021)CSV22nd1977202117th19772021 (2011, 2015)NORCECA2022 Men's Junior Pan-American Cup10th19772017 (2011)8th19772015 (1977)Men's U21 FIVB World Ranking13th19772021 (1999)

Pools composition The draw for the pools composition was held on 31 March 2023 at the FIVB headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. The 16 teams were split into four pools of four. The hosts Bahrain and the top seven teams of the Men's U21 FIVB World Ranking in force at that time (as of 24 October 2022) were seeded in the first two positions of each pool following the serpentine system. FIVB reserved the right to seed the host team as head of pool A regardless of their position in the World Ranking. The remaining 8 teams were divided into three pots of four, according to their position in the same Boys' U19 FIVB World Ranking, in order to be drawn to complete the following two positions in each pool.

Men's U21 FIVB World Ranking of each team as of 24 October 2022 are shown in brackets, except the hosts Bahrain who ranked 23rd.

Seeded teamsTeams to be drawnLine 1Line 2Pot 1 (line 3)Pot 2 (line 4) The draw procedure also followed the serpentine system and was as follows: Teams from pot 1 were drawn first and were placed in line 3 of each pool starting from pool A to pool D. Teams from pot 2 were then drawn and placed in line 4 of each pool starting from pool D to pool A.

The pools composition after the draw was as follow: + Pool ATeamA1A2A3A4+ Pool BTeamB1B2B3B4+ Pool CTeamC1C2C3C4+ Pool DTeamD1D2D3D4

Format Teams will play round-robin in each pool. The top two teams from each pool will advance to round-robin pools E and F of the second phase, while the rest will move to pools G and H to continue the battles for classification from eighth to 16th. The winners and runners-up of pools E and F will progress to the semifinals and eventually determine the medallists.

Squads

First round All times are Arabia Standard Time (UTC+3:00).

Pool A

Pool B

Pool C

Pool D

Second round All times are Arabia Standard Time (UTC+3:00).

Pool E

Pool F

Pool G

Pool H

Final round All times are Arabia Standard Time (UTC+3:00).

13th–16th places

13th–16th semifinals

15th place match

13th place match

9th–12th places

9th–12th semifinals

11th place match

9th place match

5th–8th places

5th–8th semifinals

7th place match

5th place match

Final four

Semifinals

3rd place match

Final

Final standing

RankTeam45678910111213141516

12–man rosterSajad Jelodarian, Mahdi Bayati, Porya Hosseinpour, Mobin Nasri, Younes Javan, Amir Mohammad Golzadeh, Poriya Hossein Khanzadeh, Shayan Sepehri Fard, Pendar Momeni Moghaddam, Erfan Norouzi (c), Arshia Behnezhad, Ali HaghparastHead coachGholamreza Momeni Moghaddam

Awards

Most valuable player Amir Mohammad Golzadeh Best setter Arshia Behnezhad Best outside spikers Mobin Nasri Mattia Orioli Best middle blockers Filippo Bartolucci Lazar Bouchkov Best opposite spiker Amir Mohammad Golzadeh Best libero Gabriele Laurenzano

See also 2023 FIVB Volleyball Women's U21 World Championship

References

External links Basic Conditions for organising Junior & Youth World Championships