2025 AVC Men's Volleyball Champions League
The 2025 AVC Men's Volleyball Champions League will be the first edition of the newly-rebranded AVC Men's Volleyball Champions League, and the 25th overall edition of the formerly named Asian Men's Club Volleyball Championship), an annual international men's volleyball club tournament, organized by the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) with the Japan Volleyball Association (JVA) and the SV.League. It is scheduled to be held from 11 to 18 May 2025 in Japan.[1]
Host selection
In February, JVA announced that Japan will be the official host team of the tournament.[1]
Participating teams
Teams by zonal association
| Central Asia (CAVA) | East Asia (EAVA) | Oceania (OZVA) | Southeast Asia (SAVA) | West Asia (WAVA) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
 Australia
|
Entrant teams
The 1st AVC Men's Champions League is an invitational tournament with a maximum of twelve teams allowed to enter.[2] As hosts, Japan was allowed to enter two teams. The following teams are expected to take part in tournament.
| Association | Team | Domestic league standing |
|---|---|---|
| Australia
|
Queensland Pirates | 2024–25 Australian Men's Volleyball League champions |
 Bahrain
|
Al Muharraq | 2024–25 Bahraini Men's Volleyball League champions |
 China
|
Shanghai Bright | 2024–25 Chinese Volleyball Super League champions |
 Chinese Taipei
|
Taichung Bank | N/A |
 Iran
|
Foolad Sirjan | 2024–25 Iranian Volleyball Super League champions[3] |
 Japan
|
Suntory Sunbirds Osaka | 2023–24 V.League Division 1 champions[1] |
| Osaka Bluteon | 2023–24 V.League Division 1 runners-up[1] | |
 Kazakhstan
|
Aktobe | 2024–25 Kazakhstan Men's National League runners-up |
 Philippines
|
Cignal HD Spikers | N/A (national team)[a] |
 Qatar
|
Al Rayyan | 2024–25 Qatari Volleyball League champions |
 Thailand
|
Nakhon Ratchasima QminC | 2023–24 Men's Volleyball Thailand League champions |
 Vietnam
|
Sport Center 3 | N/A (national team)[b] |
Squads
With the rebranded tournament, each team can now have a maximum of three foreign players in its roster that can play at any time. Previously, teams can only have two foreign players and only one of which can play at a time.[6][7]
Pools composition
The teams will be split into four pools with three teams each.[8] The draw of lots is scheduled to took place at The Grand Fourwings Hotel Bangkokon 12 March 2025.[9][10]
Teams were seeded in the first position of each pool following the serpentine system according to their FIVB Senior World Rankings as of 8 January 2025. All teams not seeded were drawn to take other available positions in the remaining lines, following the World Ranking. The host's two teams and the top two countries are automatically seeded as the first teams of the four pools.
| Seeded teams | Pot 1 | Pot 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Suntory Sunbirds Osaka (6) (H-A) Osaka Bluteon (6) (H-B) Iranian Team[c] (15) Al Rayyan (21)
|
Shanghai Bright (24) Queensland Pirates (33) Taichung Bank (45) Sport Center 3 (52)
|
Aktobe (53) Cignal HD Spikers (56) Nakhon Ratchasima QminC (57) Bahraini Team[d] (58)
|
- Drawing results
| Pool A | Pool B | Pool C | Pool D |
|---|---|---|---|
| Suntory Sunbirds Osaka (6) (H-A)
|
Osaka Bluteon (6) (H-B)
|
Iranian Team[c] (15)
|
Al Rayyan (21)
|
| Queensland Pirates (33)
|
Shanghai Bright (24)
|
Taichung Bank (45)
|
Sport Center 3 (52)
|
| Aktobe (53)
|
Cignal HD Spikers (56)
|
Nakhon Ratchasima QminC (57)
|
Bahraini Team[d] (58)
|
Venues
The tournament will be hosted in Hirakata and Kyoto in the Kansai region.[1]
| Preliminary round | Final round |   Panasonic Arena Shimadzu Arena 2025 AVC Men's Volleyball Champions League (Kansai region) |
|---|---|---|
| Hirakata | Kyoto | |
| Panasonic Arena | Shimadzu Arena Kyoto | |
| Capacity: 2,200 | Capacity: 8,635 | |
|
|
Pool standing procedure
- Total number of victories (matches won, matches lost)
- In the event of a tie, the following first tiebreaker will apply: The teams will be ranked by the most point gained per match as follows:
- 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
- If teams are still tied after examining the number of victories and points gained, then the AVC will examine the results in order to break the tie in the following order:
- Set quotient: if two or more teams are tied on the number of points gained, they will be ranked by the quotient resulting from the division of the number of all set won by the number of all sets lost.
- Points quotient: if the tie persists based on the set quotient, the teams will be ranked by the quotient resulting from the division of all points scored by the total of points lost during all sets.
- If the tie persists based on the point quotient, the tie will be broken based on the team that won the match of the Round Robin Phase between the tied teams. When the tie in point quotient is between three or more teams, these teams ranked taking into consideration only the matches involving the teams in question.
Preliminary round
- All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+09:00).
Pool A
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | Pts | SW | SL | SR | SPW | SPL | SPR | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Suntory Sunbirds Osaka (H)
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — | Quarterfinals |
| 2 | Queensland Pirates
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — | |
| 3 | Aktobe
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — |
| Date | Time | Score | Set 1 | Set 2 | Set 3 | Set 4 | Set 5 | Total | Report | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 May | 19:05 | Suntory Sunbirds Osaka |
– | Queensland Pirates |
– | – | – | 0–0 | |||
| 12 May | 15:05 | Aktobe |
– | Queensland Pirates |
– | – | – | 0–0 | |||
| 13 May | 19:05 | Suntory Sunbirds Osaka |
– | Aktobe |
– | – | – | 0–0 |
Pool B
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | Pts | SW | SL | SR | SPW | SPL | SPR | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Osaka Bluteon (H)
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — | Quarterfinals |
| 2 | Shanghai Bright
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — | |
| 3 | Cignal HD Spikers
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — |
| Date | Time | Score | Set 1 | Set 2 | Set 3 | Set 4 | Set 5 | Total | Report | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 May | 15:35 | Osaka Bluteon |
– | Cignal HD Spikers |
– | – | – | 0–0 | |||
| 12 May | 19:05 | Osaka Bluteon |
– | Shanghai Bright |
– | – | – | 0–0 | |||
| 13 May | 15:05 | Cignal HD Spikers |
– | Shanghai Bright |
– | – | – | 0–0 |
Pool C
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | Pts | SW | SL | SR | SPW | SPL | SPR | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Foolad Sirjan
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — | Quarterfinals |
| 2 | Taichung Bank
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — | |
| 3 | Nakhon Ratchasima QminC
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — |
First match(es) will be played: 11 May 2025. Source: [citation needed]
| Date | Time | Score | Set 1 | Set 2 | Set 3 | Set 4 | Set 5 | Total | Report | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 May | 10:05 | Foolad Sirjan |
– | Nakhon Ratchasima QminC |
– | – | – | 0–0 | |||
| 12 May | 10:05 | Taichung Bank |
– | Nakhon Ratchasima QminC |
– | – | – | 0–0 | |||
| 13 May | 10:05 | Foolad Sirjan |
– | Taichung Bank |
– | – | – | 0–0 |
Pool D
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | Pts | SW | SL | SR | SPW | SPL | SPR | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Al Rayyan
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — | Quarterfinals |
| 2 | Sport Center 3
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — | |
| 3 | Al Muharraq
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — |
First match(es) will be played: 11 May 2025. Source: [citation needed]
| Date | Time | Score | Set 1 | Set 2 | Set 3 | Set 4 | Set 5 | Total | Report | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 May | 12:35 | Al Rayyan |
– | Al Muharraq |
– | – | – | 0–0 | |||
| 12 May | 12:35 | Sport Center 3 |
– | Al Muharraq |
– | – | – | 0–0 | |||
| 13 May | 12:35 | Al Rayyan |
– | Sport Center 3 |
– | – | – | 0–0 |
Final round
- All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+09:00).
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Final | ||||||||
A1 | ||||||||||
D2 | ||||||||||
A2 | ||||||||||
| 18 May | ||||||||||
D1 | ||||||||||
B1 | ||||||||||
C2 | ||||||||||
| 3rd place match | ||||||||||
B2 | ||||||||||
| 18 May | ||||||||||
C1 | ||||||||||
Quarterfinals
| Date | Time | Score | Set 1 | Set 2 | Set 3 | Set 4 | Set 5 | Total | Report | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| – | – | – | – | 0–0 | |||||||
| – | – | – | – | 0–0 | |||||||
| – | – | – | – | 0–0 | |||||||
| – | – | – | – | 0–0 |
Semifinals
| Date | Time | Score | Set 1 | Set 2 | Set 3 | Set 4 | Set 5 | Total | Report | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| – | – | – | – | 0–0 | |||||||
| – | – | – | – | 0–0 |
3rd place match
| Date | Time | Score | Set 1 | Set 2 | Set 3 | Set 4 | Set 5 | Total | Report | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 May | – | – | – | – | 0–0 |
Final
| Date | Time | Score | Set 1 | Set 2 | Set 3 | Set 4 | Set 5 | Total | Report | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 May | – | – | – | – | 0–0 |
Final standing
| Rank | Team |
|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 4 | |
| 5 | |
| 6 | |
| 7 | |
| 8 | |
| 9 | |
| 10 | |
| 11 | |
| 12 |
| Qualified for the 2025 Club World Championship |
Notes
- ^ Philippine national team competing under the name 'Cignal HD Spikers', which shares the same name as the Cignal HD Spikers, the 2024 Spiker's Turf Invitational Conference champions.
This is a result of an approved request by the Philippine National Volleyball Federation to the AVC and is part of the national team's preparation for the 2025 FIVB Men's Volleyball World Championship which the Philippines will be hosting.[4] - ^ The Vietnam national team will replace Biên Phòng, the 2024 Volleyball Vietnam League champions.[5]
- ^ a b The identity of the team from Iran was yet to be determined at the time of the draw. This slot was later filled in by Foolad Sirjan.
- ^ a b The identity of the team from Bahrain was yet to be determined at the time of the draw. This slot was later filled in by Al Muharraq.
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e "AVC Men's Champions League Japan 2025 to be Held in Japan". SVL Official website. SV.League. 19 February 2025. Retrieved 22 February 2025.
- ^ "Regulations: 1st AVC Men Champions League" (PDF). Asian Volleyball Confederation. Retrieved 26 March 2025.
- ^ "Iran Learns Fate at 2025 AVC Men's Champions League - Sports news". Tasnim News Agency. 12 March 2025. Retrieved 12 March 2025.
- ^ Garcia, John Mark (10 January 2025). "Alas Pilipinas to compete as Cignal in AVC Men's Champions League". Sports Interactive Network Philippines. Retrieved 22 February 2025.
- ^ Chiến, Minh (2 March 2025). "Tuyển bóng chuyền Việt Nam sẽ dự Cúp các câu lạc bộ nam châu Á 2025". SGGPO (in Vietnamese). Retrieved 13 March 2025.
- ^ Dannug, Jonash (1 March 2025). "AVC classifies BVS, MJ Phillips as imports for Petro Gazz's AVC Champions League campaign". Tiebreaker Times. Retrieved 2 March 2025.
- ^ "PRESS CONFERENCE AND DRAWING OF LOTS SET OFF ELECTRIFYING ACTION IN 1ST AVC CHAMPIONS LEAGUE IN PHILIPPINES AND JAPAN". Asian Volleyball Confederation. Retrieved 14 March 2025.
- ^ "AVC Reaches New Milestone with the Launch of AVC Champions League". Asian Volleyball Confederation. Preechachan. Retrieved 14 February 2025.
- ^ "Press Conference and Drawing of Lots Set off Electrifying Action in 1st AVC Champions League in Philippines and Japan". Asian Volleyball Confederation. Preechachan. 12 March 2025. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
- ^ Dannug, Jonash (12 March 2025). "Creamline, Petro Gazz eye strong start; PLDT, Cignal Men brace for battle in AVC Champions League". Tiebreaker Times. Retrieved 12 March 2025.
| Tournaments | |
|---|---|
| Squads | |
| Statistics | |
