AVC Men’s Club Championship 2024

26th Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship to be Hosted in Yazd, Iran

The 26th Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship will be hosted by the Islamic Republic of Iran in the city of Yazd, known as the world’s first adobe city. According to the Communications Department of the Volleyball Federation, the championship will be held from September 8 to 15 In Yazd, with Shahdab Yazd as the host team and Foolad Sirjan Iranian as the 2023 Premier League champion participating.

In 2024, the Islamic Republic of Iran will host this competition for the fifth time, with Tehran having hosted in 2002, 2004, 2013, and 2022. This year, for the first time, a city other than the capital will host the event. Yazd is known as the world’s first adobe city and is considered one of Iran’s medical and cultural hubs. The world’s first safe deposit box was built 1700 years ago in this city’s civilization. The historical texture of this city was registered as one of Iran’s national monuments on March 7, 2006. Yazd is also known as the city of windcatchers, the city of worship, the city of knowledge and practice, the city of bicycles, the city of sweets, the city of qanats and thrift, and the city of fire and sun.

The most prominent feature of Yazd is its old and traditional neighborhoods with intertwined adobe alleys, bazaars, mosques, baths, and houses. A total of 77 neighborhoods in Yazd are registered as historical monuments due to their location in or around the historical texture. Notable historical sites include Dolat Abad Garden, Khan Garden Complex, Panj Ali Bazaar, Qaisariyeh Bazaar, Mashir al-Mamalek Garden, Qala Square, Vaght and Saat Square, Jameh Mosque, Char Monnar Mosque, Tower of Silence, Rostam Giv Water Reservoir, and the Makar Museum.

Yazd is famous for its diverse sweets, including Qottab, Pashmak, Baklava, and more. Its industries include goldsmithing, various types of fabric production such as Shear Bafi, Termeh weaving, Zari Embroidery, and carpet, rug, prayer rug, and Zilu production, attracting many enthusiasts worldwide. Yazd has sister city agreements with major cities worldwide, including Venice, Italy; Lyon, France; Toledo, Spain; Gyumri, Armenia; Holguin, Cuba; Jakarta, Indonesia, and more.

The Brilliance of Volleyball Superstars in Yazd’s Sky

According to the Asian Volleyball Confederation, teams from Sporting Club (Kuwait), Gas Al- Janoub (Iraq), Baoding Wow Li Volleyball Club (China), Al-Rayyan Sports Club (Qatar), Kam Air (Afghanistan), Jakarta Bhayangkara Presisi (Indonesia), Pavlodar Volleyball Club (Kazakhstan), and Taichung Win Streak (Chinese Taipei) will participate in this competition. Wolf Dog Nagoya (Japan) withdrew from the competition and will face a financial penalty from the Asian Volleyball Confederation.

Based on the long list submitted by the participating teams, some of the world’s superstars will be present in Yazd as legionnaires of the participating teams, promising exciting matches among the 10 teams.

Earvin N’Gapeth

Earvin N’Gapeth, the world’s most recognized volleyball star, will participate in this competition with Jakarta Bhayangkara Presisi, representing Indonesia. He has experience playing in Iran and participated in the 2022 Asian Club Championship in Tehran as a player for Paykan, where he was named the best outside hitter. This time, after achieving successes such as the MVP of the 2022 Nations League, the 2024 Nations League championship, and gold medals at the Paris and Tokyo Olympics, he will compete again. N’Gapeth is known as the MVP of the Paris and Tokyo Olympics and is currently the world’s most valuable player.

Bartosz Kurek

Another well-known player participating in the Asian Club Championship in Yazd is Bartosz Kurek, one of the main pillars and captain of the Polish team. Like N’Gapeth, he will play with Jakarta Bhayangkara Presisi, representing Indonesia. Kurek has had many encounters with Iranian players, especially Seyed Mohammad Mousavi. He has only participated in the World League hosted by Tehran in Iran and now, after winning a silver medal at the 2022 World Championship, gold at the 2023 European Men’s Championship, bronze at the Nations League, and silver at the 2024 Olympics, he will compete in Yazd.

Jean Patry with Paris Olympic Gold Medal

Jean Patry, one of the world’s volleyball stars, will participate in this competition with the 2024 Paris Olympic gold medal, representing Jakarta Bhayangkara Presisi from Indonesia. This right- handed opposite spiker ranks 225th among the world’s players, with a height of 207 cm, a spike reach of 357 cm, and a block reach of 334 cm. He has played for prominent clubs worldwide, including Galatasaray (Turkey), Jastrzębski Węgiel (Poland), and Milano (Italy). His accolades include the best opposite hitter of the Paris Olympics, the best opposite hitter of the 2024 Nations League, the best opposite hitter of the Polish PlusLiga (2023-2024), the best opposite hitter of the 2022 Nations League, and the most valuable, best opposite hitter, and top scorer of the 2021 European Olympic Qualifier.

Seyed Mohammad Mousavi

Seyed Mohammad Mousavi, the former captain of the Iranian national volleyball team, will participate in this competition as the captain of Foolad Sirjan Iranian. Mousavi also participated in the 2022 Asian Club Championship in Tehran as a player for Paykan and won the championship. He was named the best middle blocker of the competition and now has the opportunity to compete in Yazd after his team won the Premier League. Mousavi has always had intense encounters with Polish players like Kurek, and his match against N’Gapeth, who were teammates two years ago and are now rivals, will be exciting. Mousavi is undoubtedly one of the stars of this competition and may be a record holder for participation in the Asian Club Championship. He has six titles as the best middle blocker in the Asian Club Championship.

Amir Ghafour

Amir Ghafour, known among volleyball fans as the Emperor of Iranian Volleyball and one of the influential players of the golden generation, will be one of the stars of this competition with the number 10 jersey for Shahdab Yazd. He was even featured on the poster of the International Volleyball Federation for announcing this competition. This year, he will participate with Morteza Sharifi, one of Iran’s stars in the 2024 Nations League, in Shahdab team. Ghafour left Shahdab last year after being named the best Opposite Spiker of the 2023 Asian Club Championship and played in the Romanian league. He has rejoined Shahdab this year, and Morteza Sharifi, who played as a legionnaire in the Turkish league last year, will compete in this competition with the Shahdab Yazd jersey. Alireza Masleh-Abadi, another national player, will also participate in this competition with the Shahdab team. Amirhossein Esfandiar, Mohammadreza Hazratpour, Arshia Behnejad, and Mohammad Valizadeh are other national players who will participate in the Asian Club Championship with Foolad Sirjan team. Behnejad won the 2023 World Youth Championship and the 2022 Asian Youth Championship. He was named the best setter of the 2023 World Youth Championship.

Judging by 8 International Referees in the Asian Men’s Club Championship

According to the Asian Volleyball Confederation, eleven international volleyball referees will officiate this competition. They are:

1. Hamed Aghabarari from Iran as the representative referee for Afghanistan
2. Indra Muflih from Indonesia
3. Ebrahim Firouzi from Iran
4. Alireza Gharib from Iran
5. Mousa Salim Aziz from Iraq
6. Akhmetov Aidos from Kazakhstan
7. Faisal Al-Shamiri from Kuwait
8. Fahad Mohammad Al-Owaidi from Qatar

It is worth mentioning that due to the presence of two teams, Shahdab Yazd and Foolad Sirjan Iranian, two referees from Iran were introduced to the Asian Volleyball Confederation. Additionally, Hamed Aghabarari, an international Iranian referee, will participate in this competition as the representative referee for Kam Air Afghanistan.

Preliminary Grouping

Group A: Shahdab Yazd (Iran), Sporting Club (Kuwait), Jakarta Bhayangkara Presisi (Indonesia), and Pavlodar Volleyball Club (Kazakhstan) Group B: Gas Al-Janoub (Iraq), Al- Rayyan Sports Club (Qatar), Kam Air (Afghanistan), and Foolad Sirjan Iranian (Iran)

Finalists to Compete Globally

According to the Asian Volleyball Confederation, the teams that reach the final match of this competition will qualify for the World Men’s Club Volleyball Championship. Representatives from Japan, Indonesia, Qatar, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, China, Chinese Taipei, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Mongolia will participate in this competition. The World Men’s Club Volleyball The championship will be held in India from December 9 to 15 this year, and the champions and runners-up of Asia will also participate in this competition.

Members of the Control Committee

The Asian Volleyball Confederation has announced the nine-member Control Committee for this competition, which includes six Iranians. The list of members of the Control Committee for the Asian Men’s Club Volleyball The championship is as follows:

• Chairman of the Control Committee and Chairman of the Technical Committee: Yermek Syrlybayev (Kazakhstan)
• Asian Confederation Coordinator: Patana Kitichi Simopat (Thailand)
• Member of the Technical Committee: Masoud Yazdan-Panah (Iran)
• Head of the Referees Committee: Mohammad Shahmiri (Iran)
• Member of the Referees Committee: Adel Hussein Al-Harabi (Kuwait)
• Head of the Medical Committee: Dr. Gholamreza Norouzi (Iran)
• Head of V.I.S: Morteza Afjei (Iran)
• Head of Media: Maryam Hesabi (Iran)
• Head of Media: Hamid Ahmadi Nia (Iran)

Minimum and Maximum Participation in Competitions

The Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship has been held with varying numbers of teams, ranging from 6 to 16 teams. The first edition of this competition was held in 1999 with 6 teams in China. Since then, except for the years 2003 and 2020 when the competitions were not held due to the outbreak of SARS and COVID-19, this competition has been held annually. Until 2005, the number of participating teams were always between 6 to 8 teams, but from 2006, the number of teams reached double digits for the first time, and the seventh edition of the Asian Men’s Club Volleyball the championship was held with 10 teams. However, by reviewing the history of the competitions, you will notice that the number of teams has still fluctuated in different editions. The competitions were held with 16 teams in 2012, 2014, 2015, and 2023, which are the record holders in terms of the number of participating teams. 

Unattainable Records of Iranian Volleyball in the Ancient Continent

Iranian volleyball representatives have won 16 championships in the 23 editions of this competition, making them the most decorated country in this competition for many years, even if they do not win any medals. In the 23 editions held, Iranian representatives are far ahead of other countries with 16 championships. Iranian volleyball, with 24 medals including 16 gold, four silver, and four bronze medals, is considered the most decorated country in the ancient continent of Asia in this competition. This record will remain for many years, even if Iranian representatives do not win any medals. Shahdab Yazd and Foolad Sirjan Iranian teams are seeking to win the 25th medal for Iranian volleyball in this competition in 2024. In total, 10 countries have won medals in this competition so far, and only in two editions did the Iranian representative does not reach the podium, which was in 2001 when the Sanam team finished fifth, and in 2023 when Shahdab Yazd finished fourth. Iranian volleyball representatives, with 16 gold medals, four runner-up titles, and four bronze medals are the most decorated country in Asia in this competition. Among them, Paykan Tehran, with 8 championships, two runner-up titles, and two third-place titles, is at the top of the most decorated teams in Iran and the ancient continent of Asia, but it is not participating in this edition of the competition. Shahrdari Varamin (two championships), Bank Sarmayeh (two championships), Sanam Tehran (two championships and one runner-up title), Kalleh Mazandaran, Khatam Ardakan, and Foolad Sirjan Iranian are also other golden representatives of our country in this competition. Saipa volleyball team also has one runner-up title in this competition. It is worth mentioning that insome editions, two teams from the host country participated in this competition.

The table of medal-winning countries in the Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship is as follows:

Row	Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Iran	16	4	4	24
2	South Korea	2	1	0	3
3	Qatar	1	6	5	12
4	Kazakhstan	1	4	3	8
5	Japan	1	4	3	8
6	China	1	1	5	7
7	Chinese-Taipei	1	0	1	2
8	Saudia Arabia	0	2	0	2
9	Indonesia	0	1	1	2
10	Pakistan	0	0	1	1
Total		23	23	23

 

Let’s get to know Iran’s Shahdab team more

The Shahdab Yazd team will participate in the 2024 Asia Men’s Club Championship as the host and under the guidance of Rahman Mohammadi Rad.

Shahdab Yazd Cultural and Sports Club started its activity at the highest level of Iranian volleyball in 2018 when the men’s premier league was incomplete due to the spread of COVID-19, this team won 4 and gained 16 points in 17 games of the preliminary stage, but this team in his second appearance in 2019, placed fifth in the Men’s Premier League.

Shahdab Yazd’s volleyball team won the championship position in the Men’s Premier League (2021) in the third year of being a team. In the final match, this team won the title by defeating Paykan, the proudest team in the Men’s Premier League, to experience its first championship in the Men’s Premier League and participated as a representative of Iran in the Asian Club competitions.

In their first appearance in the Asian Men’s Club Championship, Shahdab finished third to win the Asian bronze medal. In 2022, this team won the championship of the Men’s Premier League with a victory against Haraz Amol Dairy defended its title well, and took fourth place in the 2023 Asian Men’s Club Championship in Bahrain.

Shahdab Yazd is the host of the 2024 Asian Men’s Volleyball Club Championship to try for the first gold medal and championship.

Ilshan Davodipour, Shayan Mehrabi, Farhad Sal Afzon, Barbosa Lamonir, Amir Hossein Sadaqat, Alireza Moslehabadi Farahani, Ali Osman Faryad, Ali Asghar Mirhosseini, Masoud Gholami, Amir Ghafoor, Morteza Sharifi, Golbadi Mehdi, Naser Rahimi Panah, Alireza Shah Ali, Shahrouz Homayounfarmanesh, Mohsen Delwari, Erfan Nowrozi, Seyed Reza Saadat Al-Husseini, Younes Javan, Mohammad Reza Mozen are the initial list of players of this team in the 2024 Asian Men’s Club Championship, which is led by Rahman Mohammadi Rad as the head coach and Mehdi Mahdavi the setter of the golden generation of Iranian volleyball, will experience her first year as a coach alongside Mohammadi Rad in Shahdab.

The average age of Shahdab Yazd players is 27 years, and Homayunfermanesh is the most experienced player of this team in terms of age, and the title of the youngest player also goes to Shayan Mehrabi. The average height and defense of Shahdab Yazd players are 343 and 332 cm, respectively.

The average age of Shahdab Yazd players is 27 years, and Homayunfermanesh is the most experienced player of this team in terms of age, and the title of the youngest player also goes to Shayan Mehrabi. The average height and defense of Shahdab Yazd players are 343 and 332 cm, respectively.

Getting to Know Foolad Sirjan More

Foolad Sirjan Championship under the guidance of Behrouz Ataei. Background team, champions of the 1402 Premier League, will participate in the 2024 Asian Men’s Club

Sirjan has a long history in Iranian volleyball. In 2017, Gol Gohar Sirjan team won the Men’s First Division Volleyball League, earning a spot in the Premier League.

In 2018, Foolad Sirjan Iranian participated in the Premier League under the leadership of Mohammadreza Damghani.

The team finished fourth in the preliminary stage of the 2018 Men’s Premier League with 15 wins and 45 points but was eliminated in the playoffs by Payam Mashhad.

Achievements:

In 2019, the league was unfinished due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Foolad Sirjan Iranian secured 6 wins and 20 points in 15 preliminary matches.

The team won the Iranian Men’s Premier Volleyball League in 2020 and 2022, earning a spot in the Asian Men’s Club Championship.

In 2021, they represented Iran in the Asian Men’s Club Championship in Thailand, reaching the final without a loss and defeating Al-Arabi Qatar 3-1 to win the championship and qualify for the Volleyball Club World Championship.

In 2023, they became the Iranian champions again by defeating Shahdab Yazd in both final matches, securing a spot in the Asian competitions.

Team Roster for 2024 Asian Men’s Club Championship:

The initial list of players includes Amir Karimi, Ashkan Haghdoost, Mehdi Mahboubi Zadeh, Seyed Mohammad Mousavi, Esmaeil Mosafer, Ahmadreza Shahsavari, Mojtaba Mirzajanpour, Amirhossein Farhadi, Alireza Abdolhamidi, Amirhossein Esfandiar, Ali Ramazani, Seyed Amirhossein Sadati, Amin Khajeh Khalili, Armin Tashakori, Ali Hajipour, Mohammadreza Hazratpour, Mehdi Marandi, Armin Gholich Niazi, Arshia Behnazad, and Mohammad Valizadeh, with Behrouz Ataei as the coach.

The average age of the players is 26.7 years, with Marandi and Tashakori being the most experienced, and Armin Gholich Niazi being the youngest.

The average spike and block heights of the players are 350 cm and 330 cm, respectively.

14 Iranians in the list of the most valuable players

Iranian players were selected as the most valuable players in 14 Asian men’s club championship volleyball tournaments, and Shahram Mahmoudi and Hamzeh Zarini are the record holders by winning this title three times.

Mohammad Soleimani was selected as the most valuable player in two terms and Behnam Mahmoudi, Mohammad Turkashund, Peyman Akbari, Alireza Jalali, Saber Kazemi and Saeed Maarouf in a term of the tournaments.

The presence of three non-Asian players is also one of the interesting points of this statistical data that legionnaires from Algeria, Cuba and Russia were selected as the most valuable players.

The complete list of the most valuable players of different eras of Asian men’s club volleyball championships is as follows:

Term	Year	Player	Country	Club
1	1999	Zhang Xian	China	Sichuan
2	2000	Kim Se-jin	South Korea	Samsung
3	2001	Shin Jin-sik	South Korea	Samsung
4	2002	Behnam Mahmoudi	Iran	Paykan
5	2003	It was not held due to the SARS pandemi
6	2004	Mohammad Torkhashvand	Iran	Sanam
7	2005	Information is not available
8	2006	Mohammad Soleymani	Iran	Paykan
9	2007	Mohammad Soleymani	Iran	Paykan
10	2008	Marat Imangholiov	Kazakhstan	Almaty
11	2009	Hichom Gomadi	Emirates	Al-Nasr
12	2010	Peyman Akbari	Iran	Paykan
13	2011	Hamzeh Zarrini	Iran	Paykan
14	2012	Salvador Hidalgo Oliva	Qatar	Al-Arabi
15	2013	Hamzeh Zarrini	Iran	Kaleh-Mazandaran
16	2014	Shahram Mahmoudi	Iran	Matin-Varamin
17	2015	Hwang Pe-Hung	Chinese-Taipei	Taichung Bank
18	2016	Shahram Mahmoudi	Iran	Sarmayeh Bank
19	2017	Shahram Mahmoudi	Iran	Sarmayeh Bank
20	2018	Hamzeh Zarrini	Iran	Khatam Ardakan
21	2019	Alireza Jalali	Iran	Varamin Shahrdari
22	2020	It was not held due to the Covid19 pandemi
23	2021	Saber Kazemi	Iran	Foolad Sirjan
24	2022	Saeed Maarouf	Iran	Paykan
25	2023	Dmitriy Muserskiy	Japan	Suntory Sunbirds
26	2024	???	???	???