TEHRAN – Iran lost to Belgium 3-2 (25-23, 25-22, 23-25, 17-25, 15-12) in Pool 2 of the men’s Volleyball Nations League (VNL) in Brasilia, Brazil on Sunday.

Ferre Reggers led Belgium with 22 points and Ali Haghparast earned 22 points for Iran.

The opening round of the new national team season in international volleyball gets underway across the world from 10 June in the Men's Volleyball Nations League (VNL) 2026.

It marks the first of three competition weeks, in which each team will play a total of 12 games during a league phase, culminating in the top seven teams – plus knockout round hosts People's Republic of China – progressing to the knockout stages in Ningbo.

Among the hopefuls are defending VNL champions and world number one side, Poland, previous VNL runners-up and world champions Italy, and Rio 2016 Olympic champions Brazil.