The Cambodian national men’s volleyball team has completed its mission at the 2025 SEA V.League, having lost all matches and finishing in 5th place overall, a position that may lead to exclusion from the 2026 league. Despite this, the Cambodian Volleyball Federation (CVF) declared that they had achieved a key goal: securing a place in the FIVB Men’s Volleyball World Rankings.
The tournament was held across two legs. The first took place in the Philippines from July 9 to 13, and the second leg was hosted by Indonesia from July 16 to 20. Across both stages, Cambodia lost all eight of its matches against the national teams of Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines, placing last in both rounds.
The Thai team emerged as the champions of the first leg, with three wins and one loss. However, they were unable to replicate this in the dsecond leg, placing third with two wins and two losses. Indonesia delivered an outstanding series of home performances in the second leg, winning all four. Having placed second in leg one, they were declared overall winners.
Vietnam placed third overall after securing the runner u spot in Indonesia. The Philippines finished in fourth in both legs, guaranteeing a spot in next year’s 2026 SEA V.League.
Cambodia’s position is uncertain. As the fifth-placed team, their fate hinges on the final decision of the Southeast Asian Volleyball Association (SAVA), which may opt to remove them next year’s competition.
Despite the disappointing match results, CVF secretary-general Aing Serey Piseth expressed pride in the team’s participation. He emphasised that this was Cambodia’s first-ever appearance in the SEA V.League, and that the most important achievement was gaining the Kingdom a position in the FIVB Men’s Volleyball World Rankings. He described this as a major milestone for the development of the sport in Cambodia.
“My main mission at the V.League was to get Cambodia into the world rankings. I knew it would hurt, but I had to do it. All four countries tried to block Cambodia from entering, but I broke through. Cambodia is now officially on the world volleyball list,” he explained, in a July 20 statement.
“Do you know that every team rested for one day before facing Cambodia? Because we made them nervous,” he added.
Despite his sense of accomplishment, he also issued an apology to the nation for the team’s eight consecutive defeats.
“Thank you to my fellow Cambodians, and I’m sorry that I let you down when it comes to Cambodian volleyball,” he continued.
At present, Cambodia is ranked 86th out of 87 nations in the men’s world rankings. It is fifth of the ranked ASEAN members, which include Indonesia at 49, Thailand at 58, Vietnam at 59 and the Philippines at 78.
Achieving a position in the world rankings has long been an ambition of the federation.
From this point forward, all of Cambodia’s official international volleyball match results will directly impact its world ranking, in the same way that international football matches determine a country’s FIFA ranking.
