The number of Iranian volleyball players moving to European leagues reached six when Morteza Sharifi signed a contract with Italian club Verona on Wednesday.
The young Sharifi, 19, joined Verona with a year-long contract, IRNA reported.
He played for Iran’s senior team in the Volleyball Nations League and had an outstanding performance. His show at the VNL drew attention from multiple foreign clubs.
The move raises the number of Iranian players in Verona to two as Mohammad-Javad Manavinejad signed a contract with the same club last year.
Manavinejad won gold in Asian Men’s U20 Volleyball Championship with the Iran U21 team and was selected as the Most Valuable Player of the tournament. He had an impressive performance in the 2017 World League for Iran’s national volleyball team.
After the 2017 FIVB World League (now known as VNL), Milad Ebadipour joined the Polish club PGE Skra Bełchatów last August. Milad took bronze in the 2017 World Grand Champions Cup and he received individual award for the Best Spiker of the tournament.
Ebadipour won the 2017–18 PlusLiga, the 82nd season of Polish Championship with his club.
National team captain Saeid Marouf, who won the Russian Super League with Zenit club in 2015, joined Italian club Siena after 2018 VNL back in May.
In the 2013 Asian Men’s Volleyball Championship, Marouf was selected as the Most Valuable Player and was introduced as the Best Setter in the 2014 FIVB World League.
Mojtaba Mirzajanpour, another player in the Italian top-flight volleyball league Serie A, began his cast at the BCC Castellana Grotte in June.
Another national team player Farhad Ghaemi also plays as outside spiker for Turkish club, Ziraat Bankası Ankara in the Turkish Men’s Volleyball League.
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