All eyes on Iranian star in FIVB worlds

Asia’s Best Opposite spiker Amin Esmaeilnezhad will lead a young Iran team which the Philippines’ Alas Pilipinas takes on next after Tunisia in Pool A action of the 2025 FIVB Men’s World Volleyball Championship at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.

The Alas Pilipinas-Tunisia match kicks off the world championship at 6 p.m. at the SM Mall of Asia Arena on 12 September while the Iranians will be up last in Pool A for the Filipinos at 5:30 p.m. at the end of pool play on 18 September.

Esmaeilnezhad, 28, is one of the most seasoned players on Team Melli, which boasts an average age of 23.8 years and an average height of 6-foot-5.

Iran is the second-highest world-ranked Asian team at No. 13 in the elite 32-team field behind Japan (No. 5).

With former Asian Volleyball Confederation Best Setter Javad Karimi handling the plays and Italian coach Roberto Piazza calling the shots, Team Melli looks to build on the momentum of rising three rungs up the rankings since last July.

Iran, just like Alas Pilipinas which went on a training camp in Morocco, Romania and Portugal, also honed overseas for the world championships which will also be played at the Smart Araneta Coliseum—tickets to the games are available throughofficial website https://www.philippineswch2025.com/.

The three-time defending Asian Games champions will train for a week in Doha, before flying to Manila as one of the early birds come the first week of September.

After facing Egypt and Qatar twice in Doha, Team Melli—also featuring opposite spiker Ali Hajipour and outside hitters Morteza Sharifi, Amirhossein Esfandiar and Ali Haghparast—will play friendlies in Manila against Slovenia on 9 September and Germany on 10 September.

Setters Ali Ramazani and Arshia Behnezhad, outshide hitters Poriya Hossein Khanzadeh, Ehsan Daneshdoust and middle blockers Mohammad Valizadeh, Eisa Naseri, Yousef Kazemi, Nima Bateni, liberos Arman Salehi, Mohammadreza Hazratpour also suit up for Iran.

Piazza and Team Melli will be competing in their second major tournament after a ninth-place finish in the last Volleyball Nations League last month, a significant leap from the 15th-place finish in 2024.