The 2025 FIVB Volleyball Women's U21 World Championship was 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 (FIVB), the sport's global governing body. It was held in Surabaya, Indonesia from 7 to 17 August 2025.
Starting with this edition, the tournament is expanded to include 24 teams instead of the 16 teams of previous editions following the decision adopted by FIVB in June 2023.
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). The expression of interest of the member associations had to be submitted to FIVB by 30 April 2024, 18:00 CEST (UTC+2).
On 10 September 2024, FIVB announced that Indonesia was selected as the host for the 2025 Women's U21 World Championship.
Qualification A total of 24 national teams qualified for the final tournament. In addition to the host team and the defending champions who qualified automatically, 20 other teams qualified through five separate continental competitions which were required to be held no later than 31 December 2024. Two remaining teams entered 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: Defending champions (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
Qualified teams The following 24 teams qualified for the tournament. ConfederationQualifying tournamentTeam qualifiedAppearancesPrevious best performanceFirstLastAVCHost nation1stDebutNoneDefending champions22nd19772023 (1995, 2013, 2017, 2023)2024 Asian Women's U20 Championship14th19772011 (1977, 1981)19th19772023 (2019)8th19952023 (2007)1stDebutNoneCAVB2024 Women's U20 African Nations Championship4th19952023 (1995)10th20052023 (2005)5th19932013 (2001)CEV2024 Women's U20 European Championship12th19992023 (2017, 2019)18th19852023 (2011, 2021)13th19912023 (2003)3rd20112021 (2011)8th19852017 (2009)9th19852015 (1991, 1997)4th20012007 (2001)Women's U21 FIVB World Ranking11th19972023 (2005, 2021)CSV2024 Women's U21 South American Championship23rd19772023 (1987, 1989, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007)14th19772023 (2001)1stDebutNoneNORCECA2024 Women's U21 NORCECA Championship13th19772023 (2007, 2011)10th19812021 (2005)14th19952023 (2015)6th19771999 (1977)Women's U21 FIVB World Ranking13th19772023 (1981)
Pools composition The draw was held on 4 December 2024 at the FIVB headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. The 24 participating teams were 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.
Seeding 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 teamsTeams to be drawnLine 1Line 2Pot 1Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4
Draw The draw procedure also followed the serpentine system and was as follows: 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 ATeamA1A2A3A4A5A6+ Pool BTeamB1B2B3B4B5B6+ Pool CTeamC1C2C3C4C5C6+ Pool DTeamD1D2D3D4D5D6
Venues Surabaya, IndonesiaJawa Pos ArenaGelora PancasilaSamator Volleyball HallCapacity: 5,000Capacity: —Capacity: —
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). 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.
Pool standing procedure The ranking of teams in the preliminary round was established according the following criteria:
Total number of victories (matches won, matches lost); Match points; Match won 3–0 or 3–1: 3 points for the winner, 0 points for the loser Match won 3–2: 2 points for the winner, 1 point for the loser Match forfeited: 3 points for the winner, 0 points (0–25, 0–25, 0–25) for the loser Sets ratio; Points ratio; If the tie continues between two teams: result of the last match between the tied teams. If the tie continues between three or more teams: a new classification would be made taking into consideration only the matches involving the teams in question.
Squads Each national team had to register a long-list roster with up to 25 players, which eventually had to be reduced to a final list of 12 players. Players born on or after 1 January 2005 were eligible to compete in the tournament.
Preliminary round All times are Western Indonesia Time (UTC+07:00)
Pool A
Pool B
Pool C
Pool D
Final round All times are Western Indonesia Time (UTC+07:00)
17th–24th places
17th–24th quarterfinals
21st–24th semifinals
17th–20th semifinals
23rd place match
21st place match
19th place match
17th place match
1st–16th places
Round of 16
9th–16th quarterfinals
Quarterfinals
13th–16th semifinals
9th–12th semifinals
5th–8th semifinals
Semifinals
15th place match
13th place match
11th place match
9th place match
7th place match
5th place match
3rd place match
Final
Final standing
RankTeam45678910 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Qualified for the 2028 World Championship
12–woman rosterNicole Piomboni, Dalila Marchesini, Teresa Bosso, Helena Sassolini, Erika Esposito, Silene Martinelli, Anna Bardaro, Merit Adigwe, Lisa Esposito, Emma Magnabosco, Linda Manfredini (c), Adji NdoyeHead coachGaetano Gagliardi
Awards The following individual awards were presented at the end of the tournament.
Most valuable player Merit Adigwe Best setter Chisato Hanaoka Best outside spikers Sae Omori Teresa Maria Bosso Best middle blockers Dalila Marchesini Luana Kuskowski Best opposite spiker Merit Adigwe Best libero Ami Uchizawa
Statistics leaders The statistics of leaders for each skill are recorded throughout the tournament.
Best ScorersRankPlayerAttacksBlocksServesTotal1 Merit Adigwe1322410166 Iva Dudova14214101663 Asja Zolota1451181644 Alida Bennour1381171565 Chareika Carrion Gonzalez13868152
Best AttackersRankPlayerSpikesFaultsShots1 Asja Zolota1454415342.403422 Iva Dudova1425315340.803483 Sae Omori1393920836.013864 Chareika Carrion Gonzalez1385217338.02363 Alida Bennour1386914439.32351
Best BlockersRankPlayerFaultsRebounds1 Maria Splawska4032504.441222 Dalila Marchesini3923174.33793 Katarina Gagić3329504.121124 Li Hanyu2828383.11945 Teodora Skočajić2630383.2594
Best ServersRankPlayerAcesFaultsHits1 Shin Eun-ji29101043.221432 Liza Safronova1881222.001483 Francisca Vásquez1512841.881114 Claire Carter1411342.0059 Bara Rejmanova1411941.56119 Dominga Aylwin1427531.7594
Best SettersRankPlayerFaults1 Chisato Hanaoka325651036.118412 Kim Da-eun3021146533.567783 Helena Sassolini224540924.896384 Kanokporn Sangthong202549122.446985 Genevieve Harris201735322.33561
Best DiggersRankPlayerDigsFaultsReceptions1 Nika Županić152264516.892232 Ami Uchizawa127314014.111983 Zuzanna Suska116265014.501924 Kalyarat Khamwong108294812.001855 Gabriella Rodriguez98223710.89157
Best ReceiversRankPlayerExcellentsFaults1 Indah Guretno62910834.641792 Warisara Seetaloed611215626.642293 Yu Ga-ram541213327.141994 Anja Mihajlović492312724.62199 Sae Omori49413526.06188
See also 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men's U21 World Championship 2025 FIVB Volleyball Girls' U19 World Championship 2025 FIVB Women's Volleyball World Championship
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