Lausanne, Switzerland, May 18, 2018 - France host Iran Friday in Rouen before a home crowd, hoping to return to victories after losing to the Asian side for the first time last year. The hosts, winners of the last FIVB World League last year, still lead their head-to-head record against Iran 3-1 in world competitions.
Head-to-Head
• France and Iran will meet for the fifth time in a world level major competition.
• World level major competitions are: Olympic Games, World Championships, World Cup, World League and Grand Champions Cup.
• France won the first three encounters with Iran at major world level: 3-0 at the 1970 World Championships and twice at the 2014 World Championships (3-1 in first round, 3-2 in third round).
• Last year, Iran defeated France for the first time at major world level: 3-2 at the 2017 Grand Champions Cup. Iran ultimately finished in third place, two places ahead of France.
• Iran (8th place) are also ahead of France (9th) in the FIVB World Ranking.
• Iran and France both qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games through the world qualification tournament in Tokyo in May-June 2016. France won their encounter with Iran 3-0 on 31 May, but Iran finished higher in the final rankings of the tournament (2nd versus 3rd).
• At those Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Iran reached the quarterfinals while France were knocked out in the preliminary round.
France
• France have already qualified for the VNL final round as that final round will be held in Lille. France start their VNL campaign also in front of a home crowd, in Rouen.
• France won the 2017 World League by defeating Brazil in five sets in the final. That final was held on Brazilian soil, in Curitiba.
• In total, France finished on the podium of the last three World League competitions held: first in 2015, third in 2016 and first in 2017.
• The last time France reached the podium of another world level competition than the World League was in 2002, when they claimed a bronze medal at the World Championship.
• In 2014, France lost the bronze-medal match at the World Championship against Germany (3-0).
• Earvin Ngapeth was named as the most valuable player at the 2017 World League. His teammate Stephen Boyer scored 165 points at that 2017 World League, more than any other player in group 1.
Iran
• Iran are the highest ranked Asian side in the FIVB World Ranking, as they currently are in eighth place.
• Exactly 10 years ago in 2008, Iran were ranked 26th in that World Ranking.
• In September 2017, Iran claimed their first podium place in a major world level tournament as they finished in third place at the Grand Champions Cup in Japan.
• Iran won four of their five matches at the Grand Champions Cup, just like first-placed Brazil and second-placed Italy, but three of Iran's four victories came in five sets.
• In last year's World League, Iran finished in 11th place. They failed to reach the final round of Group 1.