The head coach of the Iranian national team, Roberto Piazza, announced the final group of 16 volleyball players for the first week of the 2026 Volleyball Nations League in Brazil.
The news was confirmed by the state news agency IRNA, which published the official list of selected players for the trip to South America, after access to the Iranian Volleyball Federation's website had been difficult in recent days.
It was confirmed that star opposite spiker Amin Esmaeilnezhad was absent from the selection. He was part of the extended list of 30 players announced earlier by Piazza but did not make it into the 16 for the first tournament of the competition.
Several other well-known names were left out of the squad, including setter Javad Karimi, opposite spiker Bardia Saadat, and libero Arman Salehi.
According to earlier information from the Iranian Federation, four players were released from the training camp after individual discussions with Roberto Piazza. These are Amin Esmaeilnezhad, Ehsan Daneshdoust, Ismail Mosafer, and Alireza Abdolhamidi. The staff clarified that all of them remain under consideration by the national coach and can be called up for the second and third weeks of the tournament if needed.
Iran's official squad for the first week of VNL 2026:
Setters:
Arshia Behnezhad, Omran Kookjili
Opposite Spikers:
Ali Hajipour, Pouya Ariayakh, Amirmohammad Golzadeh
Outside Hitters:
Morteza Sharifi, Porya Hossein Khanzadeh, Mobin Nasri, Ali Haghparast, Amirhossein Esfandiar
Middle Blockers:
Mohammad Valizadeh, Yousef Kazemi, Seyed Issa Nasseri, Armin Gholich Niazi
Liberos:
Mohammadreza Hazratpour, Hossein Hajikolaee
The Iranian national team will depart for Brazil on May 30, where they will conduct the final part of their preparation before the start of the competition. In Brazil, the team will also play two friendly matches against the hosts before the tournament begins. According to Iranian media, the exhibition games are scheduled for June 3 and 5.
It is also in Brazil that the first match between Bulgaria and Iran in the 2026 Volleyball Nations League will take place.
The match is scheduled for June 11 at 10:30 PM Bulgarian time in Brazil.
The match will have an added intensity after the last encounter between the two teams in VNL 2025 in Gdańsk. On that occasion, the Iranians won 3:0 (25:17, 25:17, 25:16), and the defeat deprived Bulgaria of the opportunity to qualify for the final tournament in Ningbo Beilun (China).
photo: Nikolay Varadinov
