Lausanne, Switzerland, June 8, 2017 - Iran host Belgium Friday in Tehran, in what is the very first time the two sides come head-to-head in the FIVB World League - though they have met elswhere, with Iran winning their last encounter 3-1 at the 2014 FIVB World Championship.
Head-to-Head• Iran and Belgium will meet for the first time in the World League.
• Their last meeting came at the 2014 World Championship when Iran won 3-1 in the first round.
• Belgium are unbeaten in their World League meetings with teams representing the Asian Volleyball Federation. They won all six meetings with Australia, losing only two sets.
Iran• Iran opened this year's World League with two defeats (3-0 Italy, 3-1 Brazil) and one win (3-1 Poland).
• Iran have not won back-to-back in their last nine World League matches.
• Iran have won seven of their previous 13 five-setters in the competition, including their last four.
• After the opening week in this year's World League, two Iranian players are in the top three best receivers in Group 1 - Milad Ebadipour Ghara (62.7%) and Mahdi Marandi (57.8%).
Belgium• After an opening match defeat to Canada (3-2) in this year's competition, Belgium won their other two matches, 3-0 against Serbia and 3-1 against United States.
• Belgium could win three successive World League matches for the first time since a run of six in 2015.
• Belgium have lost 10 of their previous 15 five-setters in the World League, including their last four.
• Bram Van Den Dries (59) scored third most points among all players in Group 1 in the first week of the competition.