Italy vs Iran, Paris Olympics Volleyball Qualifier 2023 Men: Live Stream, Schedule, Squads

The 2023 FIVB Volleyball Men’s Olympic Qualification Tournaments, alternatively the 2023 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Cup (for the tournament held in Japan) and also known as FIVB Road to Paris Volleyball Qualifier, are the three volleyball tournaments to be contested by 24 men’s national teams of the FIVB. The top teams will earn a place in the 2024 Summer Olympics volleyball tournament.

Friday will see Italy take on Iran to book a place for the Paris Olympics. The Italian team is currently ranked third in the volleyball world rankings. At the same time, Iran is ranked fourteenth in the world rankings. Heading into Friday’s match, the Italian side is coming after getting thrashed by Germany (1-3). On the other hand, Iran is also coming after getting outclassed by the Czech Republic on the court (1-3). Italy is the runner-up in the 2016 Olympics where they were defeated in straight sets by Brazil. However, in recent years, Italy has only managed to win the World Championship back in 2022. Nevertheless, Iran can never count their opposition out.

What is the format of the Paris Olympics Volleyball Qualifier 2023 Men?

The 24 teams are placed in three pools of eight, for a round-robin tournament. Subsequently, in each group, every team will face each other once. After this, the top two ranked teams will obtain a quota for Paris 2024. Rio de Janeiro in Brazil will host all games of Pool A. While, while the teams in Pool B will play in Tokyo, Japan. On the other hand, nations in Pool C are going to play in Xi’an, People’s Republic of China.

The Olympic Qualification Tournaments will include the 24 best-placed non-qualified teams except Russia who is ineligible to compete in the OQTs due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. The National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games. Therefore, the athletes’ participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.

Italy vs Iran: Squads of both teams

Italy

Michieletto Alessandro (OH), Giannelli Simone (S), Balaso Fabio (L), Sbertoli Riccardo (S), Scanferla Leonardo (L), Bottolo Mattia (OH), Cortesia Lorenzo (MB), Galassi Gianluca (MB), Lavia Daniele (OH), Romanò Yuri (O), Rinaldi Tommaso (OH), Bovolenta Alessandro Alberto (O), Sanguinetti Giovanni (MB), Mosca Leandro Ausibio (MB)

Iran

Jelveh Ghaziani Mahdi (MB), Ebadipour Ghara H. Milad (OH), Sarlak Amir Reza (MB), Fallah Zarchoub L. Mohammad (MB), Mousavi Eraghi Seyed Mohammad (MB), Hazratpourtalatappeh Mohammadreza (L), Moazzen Mohammadreza (L), Esmaeilnezhad Amin (O), Kazemi Saber (O), Esfandiar Amirhossein (OH), Ramezani Ali (S), Karimisouchelmaei Javad (S), Salehi Meisam (OH), Vadi Mohammad Taher (S), Hossein Khanzadeh Firouzjah Poriya (OH), Homayonfarmanesh Shahrooz (OH), Salehi Arman (L), Saadat Bardia (O), Valizadeh Mohammad (MB), Nasri Mastanabad Mobin (OH)