TEHRAN – The national Iranian men’s volleyball team has gained a thrilling 3-0 victory over the team of Bulgaria in the VNL 2025.
 Iran defeated Bulgaria in three straight sets (25-17, 25-17, 25-16) in their final match in the 2025 Volleyball Nations League (VNL) Week 3. 
Amin Esmaeilnezhad led Iran with 18 points, while Venislav Antov scored 10 points for Bulgaria.
Iran outside spiker Morteza Sharifi set a new record in the event.
He hit a spike at 139 km/h in the match against France. 
The fastest spike in volleyball history was attributed to Wilfredo Leon and Matey Kaziyski, who hit a spike at 135.6 and 132 km/h, respectively.
The seven best-ranked national teams in each gender at the end of the Preliminary Phase and the host country of the Finals – Poland, for the women, and China, for the men -, will play single elimination matches over five days to determine the champions.
The host city of the VNL 2025 Men’s Finals will be the Chinese city of Ningbo. Between July 30 and August 3, matches will be held at the Ningo Beilun Sports and Art Center.
The participating teams in the VNL 2025 Finals will be confirmed over the next two weeks, when the final Preliminary Phase matches will be held.
The men compete in Gdańsk, Poland, Ljubljana, Slovenia, and Chiba from July 16-20.