Set to debut at the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship, Alas Pilipinas will have nothing to lose and everything to gain according to head coach Angiolino Frigoni.
Alas Pilipinas head coach Angiolino Frigoni had a unique perspective as his team heads into the final days of preparations for the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship, which will open this week.
An up-and-coming squad still, Alas Pilipinas will be facing higher-ranked opponents in Pool A for their first foray into this level of competition.
[RELATED: Marck Espejo, Alas gear up for World Championship debut with hopeful mindset]
For Frigoni, it’s not going to be about the points they score, but about what this appearance does for the long run in Philippine volleyball especially on the men’s side.
“We don’t have anything to lose to be in this experience,” Frigoni said during the Philippine Experience event at the National Museum of Natural History on Monday.
“The teams that have something to lose are our opponents, they must be very relaxed to play and be confident.”
After making a tour of training camps in Europe, Frigoni said that there is improvement among his team.
However, there are no promises in terms of the results, especially as Alas takes on more experienced teams that have been competing at this level for longer.
A newbie in elite world competition, the Italian coach said that the result will still be unexpected for Alas Pilipinas.
“It was kind of a school for us because we played against teams with tall players, with a good serve, with a good block and with a good strategy in defense, especially Romania and Portugal. They showed us what we should improve more to play in their level and that must be our standard,” he said.
“We improved a lot in one year. I don’t know if it will be enough to beat Tunisia in the first match. But until now, I’m pretty happy with what we did,” Frigoni also remarked.
Alas Pilipinas will play all their games at the Mall of Asia Arena and will kick off the hostilities on opening day this Friday, September 12.
After their match against Tunisia, festivities will mark the opening ceremonies featuring BOYNEXTDOOR and Karencitta.
Alas will then battle Egypt on September 16, before closing out the pool phase campaign against Iran.
Tickets for the games and the opening ceremonies are available at the official website.