#WrestleZagreb

World Championships 2025 Fan Guide

Thursday, September 11, 2025 - 00:34 By United World Wrestling Press

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ZAGREB, Croatia (September 11) -- The World Championships in Zagreb, Croatia will be held from September 13 to 21 at Arena Zagreb. Here's a fact sheet for the World Championships

World Championships

Dates: September 13 to 21, 2025

Venue: Arena Zagreb

Competition format & schedule

The competition will follow standard UWW format across three styles with qualification rounds, repechage, semifinals and finals across the nine-day competition .

Date Qualification (10:30 hours) Evening Session
September 13, Saturday FS: 61kg, 70kg, 86kg, 125 kg Semifinals (18:00): FS 61kg, 70kg, 86kg, 125kg
September 14,
Sunday		 FS: 57kg, 74kg, 79kg, 92kg
Repechage (61kg, 70kg, 86kg, 125kg)		 FS Semifinals (16:45): 57kg, 74kg, 79kg, 92kg
FS Medal Bouts (18:00): 61kg, 70kg, 86kg, 125kg
September 15,
Monday		 FS: 65kg, 97kg & WW: 55kg, 59kg
Repechage: FS 79kg, 92kg, 57kg, 74kg		 Semifinals (16:45): FS: 65kg, 97kg & WW: 55kg, 59kg
Medal Bouts (18:00): FS 57kg, 74kg, 79kg, 92kg
September 16,
Tuesday		 WW: 50kg, 57kg, 65kg, 76kg
Repechage: FS: 65kg, 97kg & WW: 55kg, 59kg		 Semifinals (16:45): WW: 50kg, 57kg, 65kg, 76kg
Medal Bouts (18:00):  FS: 65kg, 97kg & WW: 55kg, 59kg 
September 17,
Wednesday		 WW: 53kg, 62kg, 68kg, 72kg
Repechage: 50kg, 57kg, 65kg, 76kg

Semifinals (16:45): 53kg, 62kg, 68kg, 72kg
Medal Bouts: 50kg, 57kg, 65kg, 76kg
September 18,
Thursday		 GR: 55kg, 77kg, 82kg, 130kg
Repechage: WW 53kg, 62kg, 68kg, 72kg		 Semifinals (16:45:): 55kg, 77kg, 82kg, 130kg
Medal Bouts (18:00): WW 53kg, 62kg, 68kg, 72kg
September 19,
Friday		 GR: 60kg, 72kg, 97kg
Repechage: GR: 55kg, 77kg, 82kg, 130kg		 Semifinals (16:45): GR 60kg, 72kg, 97kg
Medal Bouts (18:00): 55kg, 77kg, 82kg, 130kg
September 20,
Saturday		 GR: 63kg, 67kg, 87kg
Repechage: GR 60kg, 72kg, 97kg		 Semifinals (16:45): GR: 63kg, 67kg, 87kg
Medal Bouts (18:00): GR 60kg, 72kg, 97kg
September 21,
Sunday		 Repechage (16:30): GR 63kg, 67kg, 87kg Medal Bouts (18:00): GR 63kg, 67kg, 87kg

Entries and Seeds:

Freestyle Entries and Seeds

Greco-Roman Entries and Seeds

Women's Wrestling Entries and Seeds

Previews:

Freestyle Preview

Women's Wrestling Preview

Greco-Roman Preview

Where to Watch: UWW+ will have all the live coverage and highlights. For the United States, follow FloWrestling

Social Media: Follow United World Wrestling on Instagram, Facebook, X, TikTok, YouTube

Tickets: Public tickets are sold via Eventim. Click here to buy tickets.

Fan experience: Hospitality packages and official hospitality providers CoSport and Jet Set packages

Nearest airport: Franjo Tudman Airport Zagreb (ZAG)

#WrestleZagreb

Zagreb Open Flashback: Iran, U.S. opened season with success

Monday, January 19, 2026 - 10:21 By Vinay Siwach

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ZAGREB, Croatia (January 18) -- United World Wrestling's 2026 season will kick off with the Ranking Series in Zagreb February 4. The recent memories of Zagreb may be the September World Championships but the 2025 season also kicked off with the Ranking Series in the Croatian capital.

Iran and the United States had strong performances in the first of the four stops of the Ranking Series, a theme which continued throughout the 2025 season as the U.S. dominated Freestyle while Iran dominated Greco-Roman.

Women's Wrestling participants were less in numbers but still saw U.S. and UWW wrestlers share gold medals.

Here's a drip down the memory lane of the 2025 Zagreb Open Ranking Series before the 2026 season kicks off:

Freestyle

A young Iranian team snapped four gold medals in Zagreb with Ahmad JAVAN (IRI) winning gold at 61kg, Abbas EBRAHIM (IRI) winning at 65kg, Amirhossein FIROUZPOUR (IRI) became champion at 92kg and Amirreza MASOUMI (IRI) winning the 125kg gold.

For the U.S., Spencer LEE (USA) kicked off the season with 57kg with gold, Zahid VALENCIA (USA) won at 86kg and Kyle SNYDER (USA) at 97kg. Both Valencia and Snyder went on to win gold at the World Championships later in the season.

Azerbaijan, Slovakia and France won one gold each, with Kanan HEYBATOV (AZE) winning at 70kg for Azerbaijan, Tajmuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK) winning gold at 74kg, and Zelimkhan KHADJIEV (FRA) winning at 79kg for France.

Iran dominance began when Ahmad JAVAN (IRI) won gold at 61kg, beating the likes of Nuraddin NUVROZOV (AZE), Nashon GARRETT (USA), Giorgi GONIASHVILI (GEO) and Ebrahim KHARI (IRI). Javan would later win a silver medal at the World Championships. At 65kg, Ebrahim held his own in a thrilling final against Joseph MCKENNA (USA) to grab the second gold for Iran.

Young superstars Firouzpour and Masoumi put up a show to win gold medals at 92kg and 125kg respectively.

Lee was making a returning to competition six months after winning the silver medal at the Paris Olympics. He won the Zagreb Open gold with rather ease. For the U.S., Valencia saw himself win gold at 86kg outscoring his opponents 35-4 in four bouts. In the final, Valencia defeated world bronze medalist Arsenii DZHIOEV (AZE), 8-0.

Snyder opened his season with a 33-1 scoring run in three bouts at 97kg in Zagreb. In the final, he easily defeated Abolfazl BABALOO (IRI).

Heybatov gave early warnings to the 70kg field by winning gold in Zagreb, a run which included wins over Austin GOMEZ (MEX), two back-to-back wins over Iranian wrestlers including a 12-1 one again Sina KHALILI (IRI) in the final. The two would wrestle again towards the end of the year at the U23 World Championships. Heybatov won that final with a 9-4 score.

Two veterans, Salkazanov and Khadjiev, were at their best in the opening Ranking Series tournament. Salkazanov blanked everyone, including winning 4-0 against David CARR (USA) in the final, to win 74kg gold.

Khadjiev had a tougher bat but managed to win the 79kg gold with a 5-3 win over Mahdi YOUSEFI (IRI) in the final. The French wrestler would later win silver at the European Championships.