Iran to play in five friendlies before FIVB World Championship
The Iranian national volleyball team will play five warmup games in preparation for the FIVB Men’s World Championship, which will begin in the Philippines on September 12.
Iran will visit Doha on August 26 to face Egypt and Qatar, twice, before leaving for Manila, where Roberto Piazza’s men are scheduled to play Slovenia and Germany on Sept. 9-10, the national governing body of the sport confirmed.
Iran was scheduled to participate in a four-team tournament in Russia before heading to Manila, but the preparation plan was changed after the Cuba and Belarus withdrew from the event.
Iran will make an eighth appearance at the flagship international volleyball event, starting with a game against Egypt in Pool A on September 14.
The Asian powerhouse will face another African test in Tunisia two days later, followed by a final group game against the host at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasey on September 18.
The top two in each of the eight groups will progress to the round of 16.
The World Championship will be a second major tournament for Iran under Italian Piazza, who will be looking to build on a decent run of results by his team at the preliminary round of the Volleyball Nations League last month.
Despite failing to secure a first VNL last-eight spot since 2022, Piazza’s team definitely did enough to win over Iranian fans again with some brilliant performances and results in the preliminary phase – following a dire run of results over the past couple of years that saw Team Melli finish in the bottom three of the VNL table on two occasions and miss out on a berth for Paris Olympics last summer.
In fact, an eighth-place finish, courtesy of six wins in 12 outings, would have been enough for Iran to progress, had China – second from bottom in the preliminary table – not automatically qualified as the host of the VNL Finals.