GENEVA, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) announced Friday that the 2025 FIVB Women's World Championship set several records under its new biennial cycle and expanded 32-team format.
The tournament was held in four Thai cities from August 22 to September 7, concluding with Italy beating Türkiye to win the title.
According to FIVB data, over 1.1 billion viewers from China watched the matches across broadcast and digital platforms, with over 500 million fans tuned in the national television CCTV5 during prime-time coverage.
For the first time in the sport's history, Volleyball World partnered with 20 Douyin streamers to broadcast the tournament on digital platforms. As a result, 638 million additional views were counted and nearly 31 million interactions were sparked, "setting a new benchmark for sports engagement in China," FIVB said.
The championship match attracted four million viewers on RAI 1 in Italy, the fourth-largest live sports audience of 2025 in the country. In Türkiye, over 4.5 million fans watched the World Championships.
FIVB President Fabio Azevedo said in a statement, "The 2025 Women's World Championship has truly demonstrated the universal appeal of volleyball. Across multiple continents fans have embraced the excitement and drama of the tournament. These numbers reflect the deepening connection between our sport and its global audience and with the work that we are doing to develop the game even more, mainly via Volleyball Empowerment, we are sure that these numbers will only continue to grow." ■
