Polish volleyball players finish with a World Championship medal! A strange finish to the tournament

It was known that the clash with the Czechs was a difficult challenge, especially in terms of mentality. The Poles went to the Philippines with the intention of playing for the full prize pool or a place in the final, which is certainly difficult to evaluate negatively since we are talking about the leader of the FIVB world ranking.

Poland – Czech Republic. Poles won bronze medals in the Philippines!

The Czechs were in a completely different situation – after losing the semi-final to Bulgaria (1-3), they were certainly still happy about being in the top four of the World Championships. The Poles, however, defeated on many levels – including the absence of their injured captain Bartosz Kurek – had to fight again, showing their mental strength.

Coach Nikola Grbic chose the following formation: Kewin Sasak in attack, Kamil Semeniuk and Wilfredo Leon in reception, Norbert Huber and Jakub Kochanowski in the middle, Marcin Komenda in playmaking and Jakub Popiwczak in libero. As the course of the match showed, in the end the Poles ended up with Tomasz Fornal (replaced Kamil Semeniuk) and Szymon Jakubiszak (replaced Norbert Huber). And this shows that there were some problems to actually win the bronze medal.

The problems started out of nowhere, because the Poles were leading 1-0 in sets and 14-9 or 15-12 in set number 2. However, the Czechs were able to consistently get the better of the Polish team with their positive approach. The game won 25:23 (a solid change of task by Marek Sotola) encouraged the Czechs to fight for a huge surprise.

Poles can certainly thank Jakubiszak for how much positive he showed in the third set. At one point, the new ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle center was Poland’s best hope for finishing the campaign. Wilfredo Leon played in a different league, and not for the first time. The receiver was the clear leader of the team, but due to the fact that he scored more than one set himself, the Czechs’ block was focused on this volleyball player. It is worth adding that Leon scored 11 points himself in the first set, which shows the scale of this player’s commitment to the match and his high form.

Ultimately, the Poles closed the match 3-1, thus ending a rather strange weekend. Strange because the defeat against Italy slightly overshadowed winning the bronze medal at the 2025 World Championships. A bit, because this result will probably be appreciated after some time. Currently, unfortunately, public opinion mainly focuses on, for example, criticism of coach Grbic. So, classically, the Polish hell (or the so-called fired up grill) is already in operation.

Men’s Volleyball World Championships: The sixth medal for the Polish national team in history

The bronze medals won in the 2025 World Championships in the Philippines are the sixth time that Polish volleyball players have been on the podium in an event of this type. Interestingly, Polish volleyball achieved most of its successes in the 21st century. In modern times, Poles have won as many as five out of six medals, if you look at the all-time rankings.

However, it started with the legendary team of coach Hubert Wagner, which became world champions during the 1974 World Championships in Mexico. The golden “Kata” team repeated its dominance two years later (1976), during the Olympic tournament in Montreal. But that’s a story for a completely different, longer story.

Polish volleyball players have won consecutive World Championship medals since 2006. Then, during the tournament held in Japan, Poles won silver medals. Since that event, only once (!) has Poland failed to find its place on the podium of the Men’s Volleyball World Championships. It took place in 2010, during an event in Italy.

In 2014 and 2018, Poles became world champions, first winning the event in great style on their home soil – through the National Stadium in Warsaw, the Centennial Hall in Wrocław, the Atlas Arena in Łódź, to the Spodek in Katowice – and winning the final for gold against Brazil. Four years later (2018), the team defended the title in the tournament held in Italy and Bulgaria, again after winning the final against the Brazilians.

Plus the year 2022, this time a silver medal. Brazil was defeated for the third time, this time in the semi-finals, but in the game for gold in the Spodek Arena in Katowice (Poland and Slovenia host the World Cup), they lost and took the runner-up title. And the most recent story, a bronze medal – for the first time in the history of the World Championships – after winning over the Czech Republic.