Iran’s Sarmayeh Bank Learns Rivals at AVC Club Volleyball Championship

Vietnam will host the competition between June 28 and July 6 in Nam Dinh and Ninh Binh, with 13 teams vying for the top honor and the lone berth for the next year’s FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship.

The 13 participating teams have been split into four pools to contest the pool round-robin preliminaries in Pool A, Pool B, Pool C and Pool D.

Host Vietnam, Iraq’s Al-Bahri and Sri Lanka Ports Authority Sports Club are in Pool A, while Pool B comprises defending champion Sarmayeh Bank of Iran and Taiwan Power from Chinese Taipei. Pool C consists of Qatar’s Al Arabi Sports Club, Kazakhstan’s Altay VC, Hong Kong’s Yan Chai and Canberra Heat of Australia, with Japan’s Toyoda Gosei Trefuerza, China Beijing Baic Motor from China, Maldivian Sport &Recreation Club from Maldives and Thailand’s Air Force VC in Pool D.

Only top two teams from each pool in the preliminary round will advance to the quarter-final in Pool E and Pool F, with teams finishing third and fourth from each pool in the preliminaries relegated to the 9th-13th classification round.

At the previous edition in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar last year, Samayeh Bank Club handed Iran their 11th title following a hard-fought 3-1 win over Al Arabi of Qatar in the final clash. Japan’s Toyoda Gosei Trefuerza finished third place after edging past Shanghai Golden Age of China in an exhausting five-set thriller.