VNL 2025

Amin and Poriya steer Iran to five-set win over Netherlands

Faure drives France in an emphatic straight-setter against Turkiye

Published 03:03, 29 Jun 2025

Iran (IRI) vs. Netherlands (NED) men - Pool 6 - Preliminary Phase #48834756

Iran’s Poriya celebrates during the match against the Netherlands

With opposite Amin Esmaeilnezhad and 20-year-old outside hitter Poriya Hossein Khanzadeh Firouzjah leading the way, Iran came back from a set against the Netherlands to beat them in the tie-breaker in Sunday’s opener of the Belgrade pool in the men’s Volleyball Nations League. On a 4-4 win-loss record and 12 points, Iran got closer to the Finals zone in the current VNL standings, now standing in eighth place. The Dutch, however, are still under a serious threat of relegation. They stand second from the bottom, in 17^th place on 1-7 and 4. Turkiye are just above them, in 16^th place on 2-6 and 6, after losing to defending VNL trophy-holders France in straight sets over in Burgas. The reigning two-time Olympic champions are well in contention for the Finals, currently in fourth place on 5-3 and 15.

Watch the Volleyball Nations League on VBTV

Iran celebrated a 3-2 (25-19, 22-25, 21-25, 25-19, 15-9) victory over the Netherlands in Belgrade, thanks to their more prolific effort in attack, but mostly capitalizing on the abundant unforced errors by the Dutch. The European team, on the other hand, outblocked their Asian opponents by 13-7 in stuffs.

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Amin shared the top scorer honors of the match with his Dutch counterpart Michiel Ahyi, as they put away 22 points each. The Iranian opposite signed off with a 61% success rate in attack, two kill blocks and an ace, while Ahyi registered a 53% success rate in spiking and also authored two blocks. Rising star Poriya added 21 points for Iran, including two aces, while his cross-court teammate Ehsan Daneshdoust finished with 14 points to his name. As many as four other players reached the double digits on the Netherlands’ side – outsides Bennie Tuinstra with 13 and Tom Koops with 11, and middle blockers Twan Wiltenburg and Cornelis Luuc van Der Ent with 11 apiece. The two middles put up as many as nine kill blocks combined – six and three, respectively.

“I should first say congrats to the other team, because they played great! Of course, we played better than yesterday. We should continue to improve, because we have good talent, good young players, and we also have a good coach to head the team. Every game is important for us and we should just think about the next one,” Amin told VBTV after the match.

Meanwhile, in Burgas, France showed no mercy for Turkiye and hammered out a speedy 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-19) shutout, outserving the opponent by 8-2 in aces and outspiking them by 40-26 in attack kills. French opposite Theo Faure was the only player on the court to reach the double digits. He powered the winners with 16 points, including one of the team’s aces. His 15 points in swings came at a success rate of 63%.

“The objective this summer is to enjoy, to play together and to play well. The beginning of the summer always means a lot of work, but it’s growing, it’s coming every day,” Faure said on the court after the game.

The fourth VNL match of the day, between Cuba and Argentina, is already in full swing in Belgrade. Next, hosts Bulgaria will take on rookies Ukraine in Burgas at 19:00 local time (16:00 UTC). The last day of the competition week offers a total of nine matches in Burgas, Belgrade and Chicago with all VNL teams participating.