Piazza out to end Iranʼs slow-start curse as VNL preliminaries open
Iran will open its Volleyball Nations League campaign with a daunting test against Brazil in Brasília today in what could be a defining international season for the men’s national team and head coach Roberto Piazza.
The two sides also met on the opening day of the 2025 edition, with the South American powerhouse emerging victorious in straight sets on home soil.
When the Italian coach was appointed to the role on a 2+2-year contract midway through 2024, he said his ultimate goal was to steer his team to a “constant place among the top eight teams in the world.”
His first year in charge offered signs that he was delivering on that objective, as Iran produced a late surge to finish eighth in the 2025 VNL preliminary-round standings, having ended up among the bottom three teams in each of the previous two editions.
Iran, however, ultimately missed out on a first appearance in the VNL Finals in four years, as China secured the final quarterfinal berth as host nation despite finishing 17th in the preliminary standings. Piazza’s men went on to build on that promising campaign by reaching the World Championship quarterfinals later in the year before falling to surprise package Czechia.
Piazza showed determination and commitment to his role when he – unlike many other foreign coaches in Iranian sport – returned to Iran in late May, after concluding his club duties in Italy’s top flight, amid the country’s fragile ceasefire with the United States and Israel.
As the Italian enters the second year of his contract, which could prove decisive for the future of his tenure, he will be eager to break Iran’s habit of slow starts in the VNL preliminary phase, which has proved costly in recent years.
Iran had to wait until its fourth and final outing of Week 1 to claim its first victory at last year’s tournament – a five-set win over Ukraine – before going on to win three of its four matches in Week 2.
In 2024, Iran went winless through its first eight matches across the opening two weeks, and back-to-back victories over the United States and the Netherlands in the final week did little to alter the team’s fate as it finished second from bottom of the table.
The situation was not much different in the 2023 campaign. Iran’s only Week 1 victory came against relative minnows China, and the team managed just one more win in its remaining preliminary matches to finish above only Bulgaria and China in the standings.
Tricky tests will come thick and fast in Week 1 for Piazza’s men, who will take on Bulgaria – last year’s World Championship runner-up – on Thursday before facing Argentina and Belgium later in the week at the Nilson Nelson Gymnasium.
Iran also faced both Argentina and Bulgaria in the previous edition, beating the South Americans 3-1 before sweeping Bulgaria in straight sets on the final day of the preliminary round.