Iran has been drawn in Pool D of the FIVB Volleyball Mens World Championship.
A total of 24 countries have been drawn across four pools for the first round of the 18th edition of the FIVB Volleyball Mens World Championship, which will be held across six different cities (Katowice, Lodz, Wroclaw, Gdansk, Bydgoszcz, Krakow) in Poland from August 30 to September 21, FIVB wrote.
Pool D is arguably the toughest of the four groups with three time champion Italy joined by NORCECA 1, Iran (WR12), France (WR16), NORCECA 4 and Belgium (WR37).
Pools for the FIVB Volleyball Mens World Championship Poland 2014
Pool A - Poland, Argentina, Serbia, Australia, CAVB 3, Venezuela
Pool B - Brazil, NORCECA 2, Germany, CAVB 1, Korea, Finland
Pool C - Russia, Bulgaria, NORCECA 3, CAVB 2, China, NORCECA 5
Pool D Italy, NORCECA 1, Iran, France, NORCECA 4, Belgium
The Draw was carried out in the presence of FIVB President Dr. Ary S. Graa F and Polands Minister of Sport and Tourism Andrzej Biernat.
A record number of 279 teams participated in the qualification process for the 2014 FIVB Volleyball World Championships. This total, coming from 166 national federations across the five FIVB confederations, represents an increase of 65 teams from the previous best of 214 teams from 119 federations for the 2010 World Championships (compared with 102 in 2006, 72 in 2002 and 63 in 1998).
There were 148 teams that have played in the qualification process for the Mens World Championship.