TEAM COMPOSITION

IRI / Iran - Team Composition

Team manager	KHOSHKHABAR Amir
Head coach	VELASCO Julio
Assistant coach	EBRAHIMI Reza
Doctor	AFROOZI Siyamak
Therapist / trainer	CICHELLO Juan
Journalist	TOLOUEKIAN Amir

	No.	Name	Lastname	Shirt Name	Birthdate	Height	Weight	Spike	Block
	3	Amir	HOSSEINI	A.HOSSEINI	23.07.1975	183	73	339	320
	4	Seyed Mohammad	MOUSAVI ERAGHI	M. MOUSAVI	22.08.1987	203	86	362	344
	7	Hamzeh	ZARINI	H. Zarini	18.10.1985	198	98	351	330
L	8	Farhad	ZARIF AHANGARAN V.	F.ZARIF	03.03.1983	165	60	290	271
C	9	Alireza	NADI	A. NADI	02.09.1980	200	90	334	320
	10	Amir	GHAFOUR	A.GHAFOUR	06.06.1991	202	90	354	334
	12	Farhad	NAZARI AFSHAR	F. NAZARI	22.05.1984	195	85	345	331
	13	Mehdi	MAHDAVI	M.MAHDAVI	13.02.1984	191	96	330	310
	14	Arash	KESHAVARZI	A.KESHAVARZI	16.02.1987	198	94	344	325
	15	Hesam	BAKHSHESHI	H. BAKHSHESHI	21.03.1984	200	91	341	323
	16	Seyed Mehdi	BAZARGARDE SHALKOHIMOJARAD	M. BAZARGARD	16.03.1979	200	93	360	350
	19	Arash	KAMALVAND	A. KAMALVAND	11.05.1989	201	91	345	325

C=Captain L=Libero

Team profile

The Iran men’s team has been enjoying a purple patch of form in recent years. After a strong 2009, Iran qualified for last year’s FIVB World Championship, were runners-up at the 2010 Asian Games and triumphed in a four-way tournament with Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland. On top of that, they became Asian champions and qualified for this year’s FIVB World Cup.

The Iranians and their federation are under no illusions that they still have progress to make, but are confident of achieving great things under Julio Velasco, who formerly coached the Italian men’s team among others, and assistant coach Juan Manuel Cichello, who was coach of the successful Argentina youth team. Iran expect to continue to play fast volleyball with a variety of tactics under the two new coaches. In fact, Iran is aiming to achieve success across the board, from junior level to the senior team.

Today’s Iran team is composed of both veterans and younger players. There are several promising players, such as Arash Kamalvand, Amir Ghafour, Amir Hosseini and Farhad Zarif. Participating in a number of different tournaments in recent years has helped the side acquire solid experience, helping the confidence ahead of the start of the Olympic Games qualifying process.

Coach profile

The legendary Julio Velasco started playing when he was 15 but became a coach soon after, winning four Argentina Championships (1979-1982) and four Italian Championships (1986-89) before leading the Italian national team to three gold medals at the European Championship. Velasco’s success with Italy (1989-1996) continued with gold in two FIVB World Championships, five FIVB World Leagues, a World Cup and a Grand Champions Cup. The Argentinean also coached the Italian women’s team (1997-1998), the Czech Republic (2001-2003) and Spain (2009-2010).