VNL 2024:
Volleyball heavyweights standing between Iran and Olympic spot
Iran will take one last shot at a place at next summer’s Paris Olympics when getting its Volleyball Nations League campaign underway against reigning world champion Italy in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on May 21.
With Germany, Brazil, Poland, Canada, USA, and Japan having already punched their tickets for the French capital – thanks to a top-two finish across the three pools in last October’s qualification tournament – the four remaining spots for the Games will be decided through the FIVB Men’s World Ranking by the end of the VNL preliminary round.
Egypt is likely to take the African slot and, as it stands in the ranking, Italy (third), Argentina (sixth), Slovenia (seventh), and Serbia (ninth) are also the favorites to qualify, with Iran lagging behind in the 15th place.
The Asian powerhouse will then take on Argentina, Serbia, and Cuba in Week 1 of the annual event, before heading to the Japanese city of Chiba for the second week of action – starting June 4 – against Japan, Brazil, newcomer Turkey, and Bulgaria.
Week 3 will see Iran square off against the Netherlands, Germany, France before finish the preliminary round against the USA on June 23 in Manila, the Philippines.
The top seven of the 16-team table of the preliminary phase will join host Poland in the VNL Finals in Lodz from June 27-30.
The Iranian Volleyball Federation is yet to name the new head coach for the national team following Behrouz Ataei’s departure in the aftermath of four-set defeat against the Czech Republic midway through the Olympic qualification tournament in midway through the FIVB Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Rio de Janeiro in October.
The national governing body of the sport announced a four-man shortlist for the job last week.
Former Iran skipper Saeed Ma’rouf and Belgian Vital Heynen – world champion with Poland in 2014 – plus Italian duo Angelo Lorenzetti and Roberto Piazza, now in charge of clubs Sir Sicoma Perugia and Allianz Milano in their home country respectively, are in contention for the role.