Lausanne, Switzerland, June 4, 2017 - Poland come head-to-head with Iran for the ninth time in World League history Sunday in Pesaro, with the European side leading the series 5-3.
Head-to-Head• Poland and Iran have met eight times in the World League, with Poland winning five times versus three Iranian victories.
• After Iran started with two wins, Poland have now won five of their last six World League matches against Iran with the exception of 26 June 2015 (3-2 Iran win).
• In 2016 they met twice: Iran beat Poland 3-1 in the Olympic Qualification Tournament in June, but Poland won in five sets at the 2016 Olympic Games. Both teams were eliminated in the quarterfinals.
Poland• Poland have started their 2017 World League campaign by defeating the Olympic finalists from Rio last year in succession. On Friday, they beat Brazil 3-2 and on Saturday, they edged Italy 3-1.
• In 2015, Poland last started a World League campaign with three successive victories. In that year, their third (and fourth) win came against Iran.
• This was also the last time Poland won more than two successive World League matches.
• In both of their wins, Dawid Konarski was their leading points scorer (20 v Brazil, 17 v Italy).
Iran• Iran have started their 2017 World League campaign with back-to-back defeats, 3-0 against Italy on Friday and 3-1 against Brazil on Saturday.
• Last season, Iran also started with two defeats, before rebounding with a victory against Argentina (3-2).
• Iran could lose their opening three matches of a World League campaign for the first time since 2015, when they kicked off with four defeats in a row (incl. 2 defeats against Poland).