Seeded wrestlers at the 2025 World Greco-Roman Wrestling Championships: Who will face a tough draw

The 2025 World Wrestling Championships in Greco-Roman wrestling will start in Zagreb on September 13. The international federation (UWW) has already published the list of seeded wrestlers in all ten weight categories.

What is seeding?
Seeding is a system for distributing the strongest athletes across the tournament bracket. It is based on the world ranking and results from recent major competitions. The main goal is to separate the favorites into different halves and quarters of the bracket so that they do not meet too early.

If a wrestler is among the top eight in the ranking of their weight category, they receive "seeded" status and enter the draw with privileges: the system will prevent them from meeting other seeded wrestlers in the first round. However, as early as the quarterfinal stage, they could face a strong opponent.

For example, the number one seed can only meet the number two seed in the final.

Armenian Wrestlers

Ten Armenian Greco-Roman wrestlers will compete at the tournament, four of whom are seeded and will receive a more favorable draw.

• 55 kg: Manvel Khachatryan remains unseeded, which increases the risk of an early match with the category leader—Azerbaijani Eldaniz Azizli or Russian Emin Sefereshaev.

• 60 kg: Grachia Poghosian remains unseeded, which increases the risk of an early match with the category leader—Korean Ri Se-ung or Serbian Georgij Tibilov.

• 63 kg: The category leader and a strong candidate for the championship final is Karen Aslanyan. His group is expected to be relatively calm until the semifinal.

• 67 kg: Slavik Galstyan landed in a tough group with Olympians Luis Orta (note: corrected from Sanchez) and Saeid Esmaeili.

• 72 kg: Gor Khachatryan remains unseeded, which increases the risk of an early match with the category leader—Georgian Ulvi Ganizade or Serbian Ali Arsalan.

• 77 kg: Malkhas Amoyan is the No. 3 seed in his weight category. It is unlikely he will face strong opponents before the semifinal, but he will most likely face the Azerbaijani wrestler Suleymanov in the semifinal.

• 82 kg: Samvel Grigorian remains unseeded, which increases the risk of an early match with the category leader—Hungarian Erik Szilvassy or Georgian Gela Bolkvadze.

• 87 kg: Vigen Nazaryan remains unseeded, which increases the risk of an early match with the category leader—Hungarian David Losonczi or Turpal Bisultanov.

• 97 kg: Artur Aleksanyan is the No. 2 seed in his weight category. A smooth path to the final is expected. The rest depends on the draw.

• 130 kg: Razmik Kurdian remains unseeded, which increases the risk of an early match with the category leader—Iranian Amin Mirzazadeh or Turk Hamza Bakır.

2025 World Wrestling Championship Greco-Roman Seeding

55kg

1. Eldaniz AZIZLI (AZE) - Эльданиз Азизли
8. Ikhtiyor BOTIROV (UZB) - Ихтиёр Ботиров
4. Denis MIHAI (ROU) - Денис Михай
5. Manvel KHACHATRYAN (ARM) - Манвел Хачатрян

3. Poya DAD MARZ (IRI) - Пойя Дад Марз
6. Artiom DELEANU (MDA) - Артем Делеану
7. Ulan MURATBEK UULU (KGZ) - Улан Муратбек уулу
2. Emin SEFERSHAEV (UWW) - Эмин Сефершаев

60kg

1. Se ung RI (PRK) - Ри Сэ Унг
8. Victor CIOBANU (MDA) - Виктор Чобану
4. Sadyk LALAEV (UWW) - Садык Лалаев
5. Amiran SHAVADZE (GEO) - Амиран Шавадзе

3. Nihat MAMMADLI (AZE) - Нихат Мамедли
6. Enes BASAR (TUR) - Энес Башар
7. Alisher GANIEV (UZB) - Алишер Ганиев
2. Georgij TIBILOV (SRB) - Георгий Тибилов

63kg

1. Karen ASLANYAN (ARM) - Карен Асланян
8. Aref MOHAMMADI (QAT) - Ареф Мохаммади
4. Mohammad KESHTKAR (IRI) - Мохаммад Кешткар
5. Aytjan KHALMAKHANOV (UZB) - Айтжан Халмаханов

3. Kerem KAMAL (TUR) - Керем Камал
6. Ellis COLEMAN (USA) - Эллис Коулман
7. Hanjae CHUNG (KOR) - Чхан Хан Джэ
2. Vitalie ERIOMENCO (MDA) - Виталий Ериоменко

67kg

1. Saeid ESMAEILI (IRI) - Саид Эсмаэили
8. Haavard JOERGENSEN (NOR) - Овавр Йоргенсен
4. Luis ORTA (CUB) - Луис Орта 
5. Joni KHETSURIANI (GEO) - Джони Хецуриани

3. Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE) - Хасрат Джафаров
6. Slavik GALSTYAN (ARM) - Славик Галстян
7. Razzak BEISHEKEEV (KGZ) - Раззак Бейшекеев
2. Valentin PETIC (MDA) - Валентин Петич

72kg

1. Ulvi GANIZADE (AZE) - Ульви Ганизаде
8. Mihai PETIC (MDA) - Михай Петич
4. Abdullo ALIEV (UZB) - Абдулло Алиев
5. Iuri LOMADZE (GEO) - Юри Ломадзе

3. Ibrahim GHANEM (FRA) - Ибрагим Ганем
6. Mehmet SAHIN (TUR) - Мехмет Шахин
7. Danial SOHRABI (IRI) - Даниал Сохраби
2. Ali ARSALAN (SRB) - Али Арслан

77kg

1. Aram VARDANYAN (UZB) - Арам Варданян
8. Albin OLOFSSON (SWE) - Альбин Олофссон
4. Nao KUSAKA (JPN) - Нао Кусака
5. Ahmet YILMAZ (TUR) - Ахмет Йылмаз

3. Malkhas AMOYAN (ARM) - Малхас Амоян
6. Yryskeldi MAKSATBEK UULU (KGZ) - Ырыскелди Максатбек уулу
7. Sergei KUTUZOV (UWW) - Сергей Кутузов
2. Sanan SULEYMANOV (AZE) - Санан Сулейманов

82kg

1. Erik SZILVASSY (HUN) - Эрик Сильвасси
8. Ramon BETSCHART (SUI) - Рамон Бетшарт
4. Mihail BRADU (MDA) - Михаил Браду
5. Karlo KODRIC (CRO) - Карло Кодрич

3. Gurban GURBANOV (AZE) - Гурбан Гурбанов
6. Taizo YOSHIDA (JPN) - Тайзо Ёсида
7. Jalgasbay BERDIMURATOV (UZB) - Жалгасбай Бердимуратов
2. Gela BOLKVADZE (GEO) - Гела Болквадзе

87kg

1. David LOSONCZI (HUN) - Давид Лосонци
8. Arkadiusz KULYNYCZ (POL) - Аркадиуш Кулиныч
4. Alireza MOHMADI (IRI) - Алиреза Мохмади
5. Islam ABBASOV (AZE) - Ислам Аббасов

3. Aleksandr KOMAROV (SRB) - Александр Комаров
6. Exauce MUKUBU (NOR) - Экзосе Мукубу
7. Milad ALIRZAEV (UWW) - Милад Алирзаев
2. Turpal BISULTANOV (DEN) - Турпал Бисултанов

97kg

1. Mohammadhadi SARAVI (IRI) - Мохаммадхади Сарави
8. Giorgi MELIA (GEO) - Георгий Мелия
4. Gabriel ROSILLO (CUB) - Габриэль Росильо
5. Arvi SAVOLAINEN (FIN) - Арви Саволайнен

3. Alex SZOKE (HUN) - Алекс Сёке
6. Lucas LAZOGIANIS (GER) - Лукас Лазогианис
7. Uzur DZHUZUPBEKOV (KGZ) - Узур Джузупбеков
2. Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM) - Артур Алексанян

130kg

1. Amin MIRZAZADEH (IRI) - Амин Мирзазаде
8. Sergei SEMENOV (UWW) - Сергей Семёнов
4. Abdellatif MOHAMED (EGY) - Абделатиф Мохамед
5. Mantas KNYSTAUTAS (LTU) - Мантас Княстаутас

3. Heiki NABI (EST) - Хейки Наби
6. Darius VITEK (HUN) - Дариуш Витек
7. Beka KANDELAKI (AZE) - Бека Канделаки
2. Hamza BAKIR (TUR) - Хамза Бакир