Piazza: Our goal is to fight in Los Angeles and to be among the top eight teams/ I am happy and lucky!

I planned to check the performance of the players

In his first interview, the new head coach of Iran’s national volleyball team expressed his satisfaction at accepting the leadership of our country’s national team and said: Our goal is to be ranked among the top eight teams in the world.

According to the communication department of the volleyball federation, Roberto Piazza, who was introduced by the president of the volleyball federation as the head coach of the Iranian national volleyball team on the 3rd of September, said in his first conversation about this: “Accepting this responsibility is very surprising for me because I wanted to reach this position, I am very happy to be the head coach of Iran’s national volleyball team.

He continued: “Being among the top eight teams in the world is not our dream, but it is our goal. Of course, we should focus on getting a place among the top eight teams, not forgetting this goal sometimes.” My dream for the Iranian Volleyball Federation is to reach its goal in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. I think this is not just a wish but a demand.

Piazza said about Iran’s draw in the World Championship: It was a good draw and we were lucky because we were placed in the same group as the Philippines. The Philippines was placed in Group A due to hosting, and according to Iran’s draw, it was also placed in this group, and for this reason, I am very happy that our path has been determined. We need to quickly get the first place in Group A and then think about the future.

About how to check the performance of Iranian volleyball players, he said: I am in contact with my assistant Tutulu and some Iranian analysts. We consider Iranian players and even legionnaires. Some play in Italy, some in Poland and some in France, we monitor the performance of all players. It is natural to consider their performance in all conditions. Not just in attack or defense, we have to check them in all positions. Even about the physical condition, we correspond with the fitness coach to find out how we can prepare the physical conditions of the players in the best way to participate in the leading competitions in the League of Nations and the World Championship.

The head coach of Iran’s national volleyball team, in response to the question of how the negotiations with him for the head coach of Iran have been different in the past periods, added: This question is very interesting because in the previous negotiations, the most important problem was time. I was aware of my contract with the Netherlands and I had to finalize everything before January 1, 2023. At that time there was no chance to sign the contract so we lost that option in my contract with Holland to cancel. My contract with Holland was valid until 2024 until this season ends. I can tell you that the problem was exactly the timing and I am glad that I was able to explain this very clearly.

He continued: The negotiation with Mr. Taghavi went very quickly, when he realized that it was possible to have a contract with me and he understood my goals, we reached an agreement and we did not talk about money, because my goal is not to get much money. But I wanted to follow my own point of view. My goal is to participate in the Los Angeles Olympics and I think I can achieve this goal with the Iranian Volleyball Federation and Iranian players. We want to dream with the volleyball federation and the people of Iran, and my last word is very simple, we must fight for our common dream. So, we are all working together to be in Los Angeles 2028.