TEHRAN - Roberto Piazza, the new head coach of the Iranian men’s national team, has already stated a clear goal that he has set for himself on the new job and that is to bring the team back up among the top eight teams in the FIVB Volleyball World Ranking and keep them there permanently.

The Italian trainer took over the Iranian team on a four-year contract earlier this month, replacing previous head coach Mauricio Paes of Brazil, who was in charge during the 2024 season and under whose term, Iran finished 15th in the 2024 Volleyball Nations League.

Iran are currently 15th in the World Ranking as well and this is not the place where their new head coach wants them to be. For the most part of the 2023 season, they were a top 10 team, and the last time they were in the top eight was during the 2022 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship.

“My first dream and desire is to be constantly in the first eight teams in the World Ranking,” Roberto Piazza told Volleyball World shortly after accepting the new job.

The 56-year-old Italian is taking over the Iranian national team with a four-year perspective, geared towards the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games, and the long-term term target being the team’s return to Olympic participation after missing out on Paris 2024 this year. Iran made their Olympic debut at Rio de Janeiro 2016, where they reached the quarterfinals, and also played at Tokyo 2020, registering a ninth-place finish. Short term, Piazza’s first objectives will be associated with next year’s Volleyball Nations League and, of course, the 2025 World Championship in the Philippines.

At this point, Piazza did not reveal whether any major changes in the squad should be expected under his mandate.

“It’s really too soon to talk about the players,” he said. “Many of them will play in different leagues and we have to select the best ones for each position.”

Before taking over Iran, coach Piazza had been at the helm of the Netherlands since 2019. His previous national team jobs include coaching Qatar in 2016 and assistant-coaching Russia to an FIVB Volleyball World League bronze in 2009 and silver in 2010, asianvolleyball.net reported.