TEHRAN – Iran volleyball federation announced on Wednesday the 14 players for the 2023 Volleyball Nations League (VNL) Week 1.

Iran will travel to Nagoya, Japan on Thursday to take part in the prestigious event.

Currently in number 10 of the FIVB Men’s Volleyball World Ranking, Iran will look to improve further on the seventh place they took in VNL 2022 as they take on the 2023 edition in June and July. Their Preliminary Phase campaign starts on June 6 and includes matches in Nagoya (Japan), Rotterdam (the Netherlands) and Anaheim (USA). If they qualify for the VNL Finals, they will travel to Gdansk, Poland for the event from July 19 through 23.

Later in the season, Iran will try to defend their continental title as they host the 2023 Asian Championship in Tehran from Aug. 19 through 26. They will start the tournament in a pool with Hong Kong and Iraq.

From Sept. 19 to 26 in Hangzhou, China, Iran will try to conquer their third consecutive Asian Games crown.

Finally, coach Behrouz Ataei’s squad will join the qualifying battles for tickets to Paris 2024 as they travel to South America from Sept. 30 through Oct. 8 to take on Cuba, Czech, Germany, Italy, Qatar, Ukraine and hosts Brazil for two spots at the Olympic Games next year.

Iran roster:
Mohammad Mousavi, Mehdi Jelveh, Mohammad Valizadeh, Mohammadtaher Vadi, Javad Karimi, Amin Esmaeilnejad, Ali Hajipour, Mohammadreza Hazratpour, Arman Salehi, Amirhossein Esfandiar, Morteza Sharifi, Pourya Hossein Khanzadeh, Shahrooz Homayounfar Manesh, Mohammadjavad Manavinejad