Piazza gets his revenge as Iran reigns supreme in Asia again. 4-Time consecutive Champions!

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There was something almost poetic about the way the Asian Games men’s volleyball final unfolded in Aichi-Nagoya.
On one side of the net stood Roberto Piazza, the Italian coach who has built his latest international project around Iran. On the other was Laurent Tillie, the Frenchman who has transformed Japan into one of the most competitive teams in the world. And only a few weeks after Japan had beaten Iran to win the Asian Championship, the two teams met again with gold at stake.

This time, it was Iran who had the last word.

Piazza’s team defeated the hosts 3-1 (28:26, 19:25, 25:21, 26:24) in front of a large home crowd, successfully defending the title and extending Iran’s extraordinary run to four consecutive Asian Games gold medals.
Iran had previously won in Incheon in 2014, Jakarta-Palembang in 2018 and Hangzhou in 2022. The latest triumph confirms a dominance that has now stretched across more than a decade.
It was also a particularly satisfying response to what had happened only three weeks earlier. In the AVC Men’s Volleyball Asian Championship final in Fukuoka, Japan had swept Iran 3-0 to claim its 11th continental crown and, at the same time, become the first team apart from hosts USA to qualify for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.

This time, however, Japan could not repeat the feat.

The final began with the kind of tension expected from two teams that knew each other so well.
Iran eventually edged a marathon opening set 28-26, but Japan responded immediately, taking the second 25-19 and putting the home crowd back into full voice. Piazza’s side regained control in the third, winning 25-21, before the fourth set produced another battle that went beyond the regular 25-point mark. Iran finally closed it 26-24, completing the comeback and the title defence.
Amin Esmaeilnezhad once again provided the finishing touch, leading Iran with 22 points. Ali Haghparast added 15 and Morteza Sharifi 13, giving the champions enough attacking firepower to withstand Japan’s response after the second set.
Japan found its main weapon in Tatsunori Otsuka, the outside hitter who plays his club volleyball in Italy with Allianz Milano. Otsuka finished with 24 points, the highest individual tally of the final, but even his performance was not enough to prevent Iran from closing out the tournament with another gold medal. The Japanese roster at these Games was also considerably different from the one that had conquered the Asian Championship, with several of the country’s leading stars unavailable for the tournament.

For Piazza, the achievement adds another significant chapter to an already international coaching career.
The Parma-born coach has worked across Italy, Russia, Poland, Greece and the Netherlands, winning the CEV Champions League with Cuneo, the CEV Cup with Treviso and the Polish championship with PGE Skra Bełchatów, among other honours. He has also coached Allianz Milano and remains one of the most experienced Italian coaches working internationally.
His opposite number has an equally familiar European pedigree. Tillie, a former France international and one of the most successful coaches in French volleyball, has been in charge of Japan since 2025. He had already guided the Japanese to the Asian title in September, ending that tournament with a victory over the very same Iranian team.

The Asian Games therefore provided a fascinating second act to a rivalry that had barely had time to cool down.
And while Japan had already achieved one of the biggest objectives of its season by winning the continental championship and securing its place at LA28, Iran had the final opportunity to answer back. It did so in the most convincing way possible: not by avoiding Japan, but by beating the hosts on their own stage.

The bronze medal added another remarkable chapter to the tournament. Pakistan defeated China 3-0 (25:18, 25:16, 25:18), returning to the Asian Games podium for the first time since 1962. Murad Khan led Pakistan with 18 points, while Afaq Khan and Faryad Ali Usman contributed 14 apiece. The result was particularly significant after Pakistan had already produced one of the surprises of the knockout stage by beating India in the quarter-finals.
For China, the bronze-medal defeat completed a miserable tournament and an equally difficult season, while Pakistan left Aichi-Nagoya with a medal that had been 64 years in the making.

But at the top of the podium, the story belonged to Iran.
Four consecutive Asian Games titles, a victory over the hosts and a measure of revenge against the team that had beaten them in the continental final only weeks earlier. For Roberto Piazza and Iran, Aichi-Nagoya could hardly have provided a sweeter ending.

FINAL STANDINGS – 20th Asian Games
Men’s Volleyball

🥇 🇮🇷 Iran
🥈 🇯🇵 Japan
🥉 🇵🇰 Pakistan
4. 🇨🇳 China
5. 🇹🇭 Thailand
6. 🇮🇳 India
7. 🇰🇷 Korea
8. 🇶🇦 Qatar
9. 🇹🇼 Chinese Taipei
10. 🇻🇳 Vietnam
11. 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan
12. 🇮🇩 Indonesia
13. 🇵🇭 Philippines
14. 🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan
15. 🇺🇿 Uzbekistan
16. 🇭🇰 Hong Kong

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