Lausanne, Switzerland, May 26, 2018 - Iran and Japan clash Sunday in Rouen at the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Nations League, with both teams standing at 1-1 after the opening two days of the competition. It is a rematch of both the 2014 Asian Games final and the 2015 Asian Championship final. Iran lead their head-to-head series against Japan at world competitions 5-1, imncluding that last six straight.
Head-to-Head
• Iran and Japan have met on six occasions in world level major competitions, with Iran winning five times and Japan once.
• World level major competitions are: the VNL, Olympic Games, World Championships, World Cup, World League and Grand Champions Cup.
• Japan won their first world level match against Iran, 3-2 at the 2009 Grand Champions Cup, but the Iranian team have emerged victorious in all five world level encounters with Japan since.
• In four of those five meetings, Japan won the first set but Iran came back to win, including at the 2017 Grand Champions Cup. The exception was Iran's 3-0 win at the 2013 Grand Champions Cup.
• Iran (8th) and Japan (12th) are the two highest ranked Asian sides on the FIVB World Ranking. They also met in the final of the 2014 Asian Games (3-1 Iran win) and the 2015 Asian Championship (3-1 Japan win).
• In 2016, Iran qualified for the Olympic Games for the first time after finishing in second place in the world Olympic qualification tournament. Iran defeated Japan 3-1 in that tournament.
Iran
• Iran bounced back from their 3-1 defeat to France on Friday by beating Australia 3-0 on Saturday.
• Iran last managed to win successive matches at world level major tournaments in straight sets at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, beating Cuba and Egypt 3-0 in the Preliminary Round.
• Ali Shafiei finished as Iran's top scorer on 17 points on Saturday. Seyed Mohammad Mousavi Eraghi was next on 11 points.
• Amir Ghafour, who was Iran's top scorer on 18 points against France on Friday, only managed to score six points against Australia.
Japan
• After having beaten Australia 3-1 on Friday, Japan lost 3-1 to France on Saturday.
• Four of Japan's last five matches at world level major tournaments have now finished 3-1: defeats against Iran and Italy at the 2017 Grand Champions Cup, and a win against Australia and defeat against France at the 2018 VNL.
• Yuji Nishida scored a team-high 15 points against France on Saturday. Naoya Takano followed on 11 points.
• Nishida also scored 15 points against Australia on Friday.