Italy are world champions again. The defending titleholders beat Bulgaria 25-21, 25-17, 17-25, 25-10 in the 2025 FIVB Men’s World Championship final in Manila, recovering from a brief third-set wobble before closing the match with the kind of control that has come to define their recent run.

The final at the Mall of Asia Arena showed both Italy’s depth and its composure under pressure. GMA Integrated News reported that Yuri Romano, Mattia Bottolo and Alessandro Michieletto drove the attack, with Romano finishing on 22 points and Bottolo and Michieletto adding 19 and 11 respectively. Rappler added that Michieletto was named Most Valuable Player, underlining the role Italy’s younger core played in a title defense that was never really in doubt once the fourth set began.

Bulgaria had enough resistance to make the match interesting. The young side, led by Aleks Nikolov, took the third set 25-17 after Italy had already opened up a two-set lead. That set briefly turned the momentum and showed why Bulgaria had reached the final in the first place. But Italy responded quickly. In the fourth, Michieletto and Bottolo opened an early 9-3 lead and the Italians never let the set drift.

Romano’s serving sequence in the second set was the match’s defining individual moment. Rappler said he delivered five straight aces to turn a close frame into a runaway one, taking Italy from a narrow lead to a decisive cushion. That kind of scoring burst does more than win a point run; it changes the emotional rhythm of a final and forces the other side to chase from a hole it cannot easily fill.

The result gives Italy their second consecutive world title and their fifth overall, moving them clear as one of the most decorated men’s teams in the competition’s history. The Reuters-style framing in Rappler’s report pointed out that the title extends Italy’s lead over Brazil among active programs, while the old Soviet totals still stand above both in the all-time count. Italy’s own gold-medal history now includes the 1990s triple and the current back-to-back run.

Bulgaria’s silver is still notable. The team had already shown resilience in earlier rounds, including a five-set comeback over the United States in the quarter-finals, and Nikolov’s 23-point final still marked him as one of the tournament’s standout scorers. But the closing message from Manila was clear: Italy handled the pressure, recovered from the third-set slip and finished the event with authority.

Italy’s win also mattered because it came against a generation-shifting Bulgarian side, not a worn-out opponent on the way down. Bulgaria’s silver and Nikolov’s scoring output suggest that the gap at the top is not fixed, but the final still showed how much of championship volleyball comes down to serving runs, defensive organization and the ability to reset after a bad set. Italy did all three when the match briefly threatened to turn. For Italy, the title defense confirms that the team is still able to blend elite service pressure with calm sideout play when it matters most, which is usually the difference between a good side and a champion.