SV-Men 2025-2026

Dmitriy Muserskiy announces retirement

The Russian super star will finish his last SV.League with Suntory Sunbirds

Published 03:07, 05 Jan 2026

Russian volleyball super star Dmitriy Muserskiy announced his retirement from his professional athletic career at the end of this club season in the men’s volleyball Daido Life SV.League in Japan. He did so in front of over seven and a half thousand fans at the Asue Arena in Osaka on Sunday, right after his team Suntory Sunbirds Osaka hammered out a convincing shutout of their visitors Tokyo Great Bears and consolidated their position on top of the standings.

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“Thank you for coming today! I hope you enjoyed the match. I would also like to say thank you for your continuous support over the last eight years,” 37-year-old Muserskiy addressed the audience after the game. “I want to share some information with you. I am going to retire this season. But the season is not over and I will do my best to win the championship.”

2.18m-tall Muserskiy joined Suntory Sunbirds in 2018 and it was the first and last foreign club of his career. He transferred to the Japanese team from Belogorie Belgorod after winning the FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship (with the MVP award), the CEV Champions League, the CEV Cup and a number of domestic trophies in Russia. With Suntory Sunbirds, Muserskiy won the AVC Asian Club Championship (MVP) in 2023 and four championship titles in Japan, including the two most recent ones in 2024 and in 2025.

The middle-blocker-turned-opposite had an even more impressive career with the Russian national team, winning gold at the London 2012 Olympic Games, the 2011 FIVB Volleyball World Cup, the 2013 FIVB Volleyball Grand Champions World Cup (MVP), the 2018 Volleyball Nations League, the 2011 and 2013 FIVB Volleyball World Leagues and the 2013 CEV European Championship (MVP).