Players of Iran celebrate scoring during the FIVB Volleyball Nations League match between Iran and Portugal in Ardabil, Iran, June 21, 2019. (Xinhua/Ahmad Halabisaz)
TEHRAN, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Iran prevailed over Portugal 3-1 (23-25, 27-25, 25-17, 25-18) in the first match of week four of the 2019 Volleyball Nations League on Friday.
Team Melli will host Australia and France at the Rezazadeh Hall in Ardabil, Iran, on Saturday and Sunday respectively.
Iran extended their winning run at the men's 2019 FIVB Volleyball Nations League to nine matches as Igor Kolakovic's team have already defeated Italy, Germany, China, Argentina, Japan, Canada, Poland and Russia.
Iran sit top of the table with 27 points, followed by Brazil with 22 points and one game in hands.
The competition is being held between May and July 2019 and the final round will take place in the Credit Union 1 Arena, Chicago, the United States.
This is the first edition of the World League or the Nations League to have the Final Round hosted in North America.
The 16 teams compete in a round-robin format with every core team hosting a pool at least once. The teams are divided into four pools of four teams at each week and compete five weeks long, for 120 matches. The top five teams after the preliminary round join the hosts of the final round to compete in the final round.
