Alas Men drop 14 places down to 78th in latest FIVB rankings

July 22 ------ This development should be cause for worry for the country's volleyball and sports officials. But this is how the cookie crumbles.

With two months before the start of the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship, the men's national volleyball team known as Alas Pilipinas which will compete against the world's best is not moving forward, but backward. In the latest world ranking released by the FIVB, the Philippines dropped from a peak of 64th in the world to 78th. This was because of back-to-back fourth-place finishes in the regional meet.

That probably is the worst news one can get as the country prepares to host the event that will cost the country hundreds of millions and field a team that could not even beat opponents from the region's weakest tournament.

The double heartbreak in both legs of the 2025 SEA V.League dampened the country’s rise in the FIVB men’s volleyball world rankings. Losing five of its eight SEA VL matches, the nationals’ last major competition before the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship in Manila this September, cost them 23.69 world ranking (WR) points. Their three wins, however, gained them 16.68 WR points in return.

It resulted in a net loss of 7.01 WR points which cost them 14 places in the latest update of the FIVB world rankings as of Monday. For a clearer view of the impact of those losses, Alas Men entered Leg 1 of the SEA V.League at No. 64 with 44.96 WR points. They are now left with 29.79 WR points by the end of both SEA VL legs at No. 78.

Down in Asia, too

The Philippines also dipped to 24th in the region — second to the last among ranked teams in the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC). That’s only two Asian ranking spots higher than Cambodia that just made its SEA VL debut in this year’s regional meet, with just 4.90 WR points. Second to the last in the continent is Uzbekistan with 14.27 WR points.

Among their other SEA VL rivals, Leg 2 champion Indonesia is ranked ninth in Asia (49th in the world). Leg 1 champion Thailand is Asia’s 13th-ranked team (58th in the world), one spot higher than Vietnam.

Source: spin.ph