Tough as the situation may be, Alas Pilipinas head coach Angiolino Frigoni believes that the result of the 2025 FIVB Men’s Volleyball World Championship draw could have been far more challenging for the home squad.
The Philippines, hosting the world tournament for the first time, was automatically placed in Pool A.
They will face world No. 15 and Asian Championship silver medalist Iran, African Championship winner Egypt, and 11-time African champion Tunisia.
“I can say that for us, all teams are pretty difficult, but those two are not as difficult as Italy, Poland, and the others,” said the Italian coach after the draw held at the Solaire Resort and Casino last Saturday.
As the host nation, the Philippines was seeded in Pool A, while the top seven teams in the world were seeded in the remaining groups.
Poland, the top-ranked team in the world, was directly assigned to Pool B, while fifth-seeded Italy was automatically positioned in Pool F.
“I have only two words to say today: big responsibility and a big challenge for us,” he said.
While they may have avoided several volleyball powerhouses, Frigoni still anticipates a steep climb out of Pool A – which is why he hopes Filipino fans will rally behind Alas Pilipinas for the world tilt set for September 12 to 28 next year.
The former Egypt head coach noted that fans showed more enthusiasm for Japan’s Osaka Bluteon during the two-day Alas Pilipinas Invitationals.
As a result, he urged Filipinos to focus their support exclusively on the Nationals when the team competes in the upcoming world championship.
“What I hope is that Filipinos will start to be a little bit different. Cheer for Filipinos, please. Because when we played against Japan (Osaka Bluteon), they cheered more for Japan than for the Philippines,” said Frigoni.
“Please, you are Filipinos. Cheer for Filipinos.”
Frigoni also emphasized the importance of the country’s hosting of the prestigious tournament, stressing that this momentous event is only the beginning for Philippine men’s volleyball.
He stated that assembling a high-quality squad takes more than just a few months and believes the world championship will be a crucial step for Alas Pilipinas in achieving that goal.
“Even when the World Championship was far away, I always said that for us, the World Championship for Philippine Volleyball is not the end of volleyball; it’s just the start. To build a team and achieve a high level, you need years, not months,” said Frigoni.
“And this is part of the program that the Federation is supposed to implement. Start with this period to build a team and continue after the World Championship. My expectation is for us to do our best, compete against everybody, fight against everybody, and not give up against anybody,” he continued.
“That’s my expectation of the team. The results will be seen after the World Championship and after every match.”
