Iranian volleyball legionnaires; Opportunity for progress or concern for the domestic league?

With the increase in the number of Iranian volleyball legionnaires and the increase in the number of domestic contracts, the Premier League is facing a serious challenge on the eve of the new season.

According to the reporter of Mehr, Iran's premier volleyball league will start on 29th of Mehr in a situation where the number of Iranian players working in foreign leagues has increased, and this issue has caused many concerns for the Iranian volleyball league. Certainly, becoming legionnaires of volleyball players in recent years has been one of the strong points of this sport, which players used to improve their technical level and strengthen the national team, but participation in foreign leagues does not necessarily mean the progress of Iranian volleyball, because with the absence of stars, concerns have arisen for the future of the Iranian league. Now we have to see how the domestic clubs can maintain the quality and attractiveness of the matches despite the departure of a number of stars.

Destinations of Iranian volleyball players from Italy and Poland to East Asia

The list of Iranian players present in foreign leagues for the new season has a significant geographic distribution; Iranian Legionnaire players are going to play in the new season from European leagues to East Asian club competitions. In Italy, Pouria Hossein Khanzadeh has joined Aqua Santa Ana Cuneo and Seyed Mateen Hosseini has also joined Perugia. There are two Iranian players in Padua. Arshia Behnejad will play as passer and Amir Mohammad Golzadeh will play for this team.

Poland is another destination for Iranian players. Amirhossein Esfandiar is in the Cheks Khom team and Mohammad Nima Batani, the young middle defender of Iranian volleyball, is going to play under the supervision of Roberto Piazza for Warsaw Project. However, Batani's name is still not seen in the list of players published on the club's website.

In Greece, Milad Ebadipour plays for the AONS Milon team, Ali Haqparest joins Panionios and Mehdi Jaloh is in PAOK Thessaloniki. In France, Javad Mananinejad will wear the shirt of Le Plessis-Roubense and Javad Karimi will play in the passer position for Arago.

After leaving Guaguas Las Palmas, Morteza Moslehabadi has joined another team in the Spanish Volleyball League. In East Asia, Amin Ismailnejad, the linebacker of the national team, will be present with Ali Naseri in the Hiroshima Thunders of Japan. Mateen Ahmadi has also been included in South Korea's Wori Kart squad. In the Chinese league, Morteza Sharifi and Bardia Saadat, who have experience in Italian volleyball, play for the Hebei Baoding team. The presence of Iranian players in different leagues of the world is definitely a positive thing, but not only the number of legionnaires is important, what is important is the opportunity to play for the players and how they perform and to what extent they improve from participating in foreign leagues.

becoming a legionnaire; An opportunity for the growth of Iranian volleyball

Attending foreign leagues helps players get to know different styles of volleyball and gain more experience. Training and playing alongside experienced players and competing with strong teams can help their technical progress. This issue is more important for young players and it can be a good opportunity to improve and gain experience.

On the other hand, the presence of Iranian volleyball players in foreign clubs allows more teams and coaches to get to know the abilities of Iranian players and provide opportunities for the presence of other Iranian players in different leagues. This relationship can help the development of Iranian volleyball at the international level.

Of course, becoming a legionnaire alone does not mean progress, and players must have the opportunity to play in order to gain experience and show their abilities. For this reason, more important than the name of the club is how much the players play and how much they improve.

Iran's new volleyball challenge; The league is empty of stars

Certainly, the presence of Iranian players working in foreign leagues is acceptable and their departure can affect the Iranian league. The presence of stars in the league helps to improve the quality of the games and makes the matches more attractive and more spectators in the halls. On the other hand, young players can gain experience and show their abilities by playing alongside these stars. For this reason, some volleyball experts are worried about the increase in the number of legionnaires and the decrease of stars in the Iranian league. They believe that if the clubs cannot replace the separated people with good players, the quality of the games and the attractiveness of the league may be lost.

Of course, the departure of stars can be an opportunity for young players to play more and show themselves. Therefore, if the clubs give the field to young people, new players will be introduced, but even so, the place of experienced and star players will remain empty in the Iranian league.

Limit the legionnaires or strengthen the league?

Undoubtedly, becoming a legionnaire of Iranian volleyball players is not an issue that can be easily overcome, and this year, on the eve of the new season of the Premier League of Volleyball, the contract number of some players has been very staggering. As far as the CEO of Shahdab Yazd Club announced that recruiting foreign players for this team cost less than recruiting some domestic players. This shows that the high salary of Iranian players does not necessarily mean keeping all the stars in the domestic league.

On the other hand, to have an attractive and high-quality league, only the presence of Iranian players is not enough. Just as Iranian players go to foreign leagues to improve, conditions must be provided so that high-quality foreign players also come to the Iranian league. The presence of these players can raise the level of the competition and make the competition more difficult and attractive for the teams. In fact, if Iranian players are going to play in prestigious foreign leagues, the Iranian league should also be able to attract good foreign players so that this traffic is two-way and balance is maintained at the level of the competitions.

Therefore, restricting Iranian players to go abroad and spending unaccountably to attract domestic players cannot be a logical way to attract the league. By properly managing expenses, paying attention to young players and attracting high-quality foreign players, clubs should create conditions for the Iranian league to improve technically and remain attractive to spectators.