New Iran volleyball coach Piazza to follow in Velasco’s footsteps
New national team head coach Roberto Piazza said he aims to make the same impact in Iranian volleyball as former Argentine boss Julio Velasco did during his tenure.
Piazza, 57, signed a two-year contract with the Iranian Volleyball Federation in Tehran on Monday, with the option of a two-year extension, which could see the Italian remain in charge for the next Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
“I want to thank the head of the federation [Milad Taqavi] for giving me the opportunity to work in this country,” Piazza said in a press conference, adding: “I believe we can build many things from the scratch and that is why I accepted this role.”
“I want to do what Velasco did here, which is to transform the world’s perception of Iranian volleyball,” added the Italian.
Velasco was appointed to the Iranian job in 2011 and went on to orchestrate the country’s breakthrough onto the global stage of the sport, introducing arguably the all-time finest generation of the national team players, including world-class setter Saeid Ma’roof, Seyyed Mohammad Mousavi, Farhad Qaemi, and Shahram Mahmoudi.
During his three-year stint, Iran dethroned China, South Korea, and Japan as the continental powerhouse, winning a maiden Asian title in 2011 before repeating the success two years later. Iran also qualified for the FIVB World League – rebranded as the Volleyball Nations League in 2018 – for the first time in 2013.
Iran will be looking for a fresh start under the Italian coach following a dire run of results over the past two years – during which it had dreadful campaigns in back-to-back Nations League events and failed to qualify for the Paris Olympics, while being outclassed by Japan on home soil in the 2023 Asian Championship final.
A first major tournament for the team and Piazza will be the Nations League in June, starting with a Week 1 visit to Rio de Janeiro, where Iran will take on international heavyweights Brazil and USA, as well as Slovenia – VNL semifinalist last year – and Ukraine.
“Iran has had mixed results over the past couple of years, and my coaching staff and I will have to find out where we need to improve,” said the Italian, who will keep his job in the top-flight side Powervolley Milano in his home country.
“Our work will begin with a first training camp in May, where I will get to know the players at my disposal to see how I can get the best out of them. I’m sure my assistant Tomaso Totolo’s knowledge of Iranian players will be a great help.
“There are some top players in Iranian volleyball, who are currently playing in high-profile leagues all across Europe. There are also up-and-coming young talents, who are capable of reaching the highest level of the game in the near future,” said the former coach of the Dutch national team.
Asked if his commitment with Milano would affect his preparation plans for the Iranian team, Piazza said: “All club competitions in Europe will be finished by late April, and that is when players in Italy, Poland, and Turkey will be released to join their national teams. We will have about three weeks to train and play friendly games before the Nations League starts in June, which is a decent amount of time for preparation. That is how I worked in the Netherlands, and I am sure there won’t be any problem in that regard.”
Iran will head to Belgrade to face Serbia in the VNL second week opener on June 25.
Piazza’s side will then play Argentina and Germany before the Italian reunites with the Netherlands in the Serbian capital on June 29.
The third and the final week of the preliminary phase in Gdańsk, Poland, will see Iran square off against European powerhouses Poland (July 16) and France (July 19), who met in the Olympic final last August, either side of an all-Asian battle against China.
Iran will hope to be in contention for a top-eight place in the 16-team table, and a berth in the VNL Finals, when going head-to-head with Bulgaria in the final round of the preliminaries on July 20.