TEHRAN – Iran have been bunched with the Philippines, Egypt, and Tunisia during the drawing of lots of the 2025 FIVB Men's World Championship on Saturday in Pasay City, a year before the country hosts the global event.

The world no. 15 Iran, are drawn with no. 64 Philippines, no. 20 Egypt, and no. 24 Tunisia in Pool A as the Philippines serves as host of the quadrennial event for the first time. It will also be the first time that the World Championship will be held in Southeast Asia. 

The 32 qualified teams were distributed into eight single round-robin pools of four:

• Pool A: Philippines, Iran, Egypt, Tunisia
• Pool B: Poland, Netherlands, Qatar, Romania
• Pool C: France, Argentina, Finland, Korea
• Pool D: USA, Cuba, Portugal, Colombia
• Pool E: Slovenia, Germany, Bulgaria, Chile
• Pool F: Italy, Ukraine, Belgium, Algeria
• Pool G: Japan, Canada, Türkiye, Libya
• Pool H: Brazil, Serbia, Czechia, China

The top two teams in the final standings of each pool will advance to the knockout stage of the competition.

The World Championship host cities were also presented during the ceremony on Saturday. The tournament will be staged at two venues in Manila – the Smart Arena Coliseum and the SM Mo Arena – from Sept. 12 to 28, 2025.