Masterminding Iran's play for well over a decade and helping bring the country's national team amongst the world's elite, setter Saeid Marouf has long been a shining star in Iranian, Asian and world volleyball.

Hailing from a family deeply involved with volleyball, the now 35-year-old progressed through all stages of Iran's age-group national teams, guiding his sides to silver medals at the U19 Asian Championship in 2003 and the U20 Asian Championship in 2004, capping these with a bronze at the 2004 FIVB Volleyball U19 World Championship.
But by 2005 he was already establishing himself within Iran's senior team and was part of the squads that won gold medals at the Asian Cups of 2008 in Nakhon Ratchasima and in 2010 in his hometown of Urmia.

Marouf has also won gold medals at the 2013 and 2019 Asian Championships, as well as at the 2014 and 2018 Asian Games.

In the wider world, Marouf led Iran to bronze at the 2017 FIVB Volleyball World Grand Champions Cup.
At club level, Marouf has rarely ventured outside Iran's borders, though he has moved about a fair bit within the country, winning national titles with Sanam Tehran, Kalleh Mazandaran and Matin Varamin.

His first stint abroad was in 2015 for practically half a season with Russia's mighty Zenit Kazan - but during that time he did get to pick up a title in the Russian Superleague and the most coveted gold medal of the European Champions League.

Marouf returned to Iran for another three years, before joining Italy's Emma Villas Siena in their only season in the country's A1 League.

When Siena were again relegated to the A2 division after the 2018-19 season, Marouf moved on to join China's Beijing BAIC Motor in 2019, where he's been playing since.

Source: FIVB