Ali Shafiei (, born September 21, 1991, in

Amol Amol ( ; ) is a city in the Central District (Amol County), Central District of Amol County, Mazandaran province, Mazandaran province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. Amol is located on the Haraz River bank. It is ...

) is an Iranian

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

player who plays as a middle blocker for the Iranian national team and Labaniat Haraz. He was named Breakout Star Of The 2014/15

Iranian Volleyball Super league The Iranian Volleyball Super League (IVSL) is a professional volleyball league in Iran at the top of the Iranian volleyball league system. It was founded in 1975 as the Pasargad Cup, but after the Iranian Revolution it was renamed to the first Div ...

. He made his debut for Iran against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

in the 2018 Nations League. He has become a fixed member of Iran's national squad since.

Early life

Born in the small northern town

Mazandaran Mazandaran Province (; ) is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. Its capital is the city of Sari, Iran, Sari. Located along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea and in the adjacent Central Alborz mountain range and Hyrcanian forests, it is border ...

, Shafiei was the first child of phisiotherapst Majid Shafiei and history teacher Shirin Alipour Kashi. Even though Amol was home to the prestigious volleyball club Kalleh, Ali did not show much of interest to the sport while he was growing up.

Career

Youth Level and Senior Debut With Kalleh (2010 - 2013)

After a nationwide scouting of high school students, Shafiei was chosen as a volleyball talent and was invited to national volleyball camps held b
Iran volleyball federation
The camps had a major influence on Shafiei and the idea of becoming a professional volleyball player grew on him. Shafiei went on to sign up for Kalleh Academy and train with them on a regular basis. He went on to be part of the 2012 Kalleh Javan (which is Kalleh's youth team and competes in both Iran's youth division as well as Iran's second tier division) and eventually made his senior debut in the 2012-13 season for the defending champions Kalleh in the Iranian Volleyball Super League (IVSL). During this season he was a regular substitute and was usually swapped with Ali Jadidi in order to strengthen the block on the net. Kalleh finished the season 2nd, losing in a 3-2 thriller to Matin Varamin VC, stopping Kalleh's consecutive championships at number 2.

Novin Keshavarz (2014 - 2015)

For the 2014/15 season Shafiei joined Novin Keshavarz Tehran to play under coac
Massoud Armat
. Despite his spell in Kalleh, he was a regular at Novin Keshavarz and showed great premise. In this season for the first time a new format was introduced in which 14 clubs competed in 2 groups of 7, then the top 4 teams of each groups would face in a series of first to two. Novin Keshavarz finished the regular season 3rd of group B below Shahrdari Urmia VC and Matin Varamin VC securing a place at the playoffs where they had to face Mizan Khorasan VC. Shafiei starred alongside Mohammad Mohammad Kazem in a losing effort in a 3–2 away loss in the first match. Novin Keshavarz lost the 2nd game 3-0 at

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

which brought their campaign to an end. Due to his extraordinary season Shafiei was named Breakout Star Of The 2014/15 IVSL season.

Return to Kalleh (2015 - 2016)

It was announced that after one year of absence Kalleh would return for the 29th edition of the IVSL, but this time due to budget restrictions caused by the building of Kalleh' s brand new stadium, there was not going to be a star studded squad. Shafiei joined Ataei's side as one of the few well known players on the roster alongside Nico Ferrerics,

Hamzeh Zarini Hamzeh Zarini (, born October 18, 1985, in Eslamshahr) is a volleyball player from Iran, who plays as an outside spiker for the national team and Haraz Amol club. He competed at the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics. Zarini two named Most Valuable Play ...

and Reza Ghara. After a very tough season overall, Kalleh finished the regular season 9th. With 13 losses and only 7 wins and failing to reach the playoffs, this season became Kalleh ' s poorest campaign run ever.

Sarmaye Bank Tehran

(2016 - 2017) Season

For the 2016/17 season Shafiei joined the reigning champions Sarmaye Bank Tehran VC which star studded roster featured players like Milad Ebadipour,

Farhad Ghaemi Farhad Ghaemi (; born 28 August 1989) is a volleyball player from Iran, who plays as an outside spiker for the Men's National Team. He competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His ethnicity is Iranian Turkmen. Ghaemi had ...

Łukasz Żygadło Łukasz Tomasz Żygadło (born 2 August 1979) is a Polish former professional volleyball player who is the sporting director of the Polish PlusLiga team, Norwid Częstochowa. Żygadło was a member of the Poland national team from 1998 to 2014 ...

Mehdi Mahdavi Mehdi Mahdavi (, born 13 February 1984) is an Iranian volleyball player, who former played as a setter for the Iran national team of the year 2007–2016.Farhad Zarif Farhad Zarif (; born 3 March 1983 in Mashhad) is an Iranian professional volleyball player who plays for Paykan Tehran. He was previously on the Iranian national team. Honours National team * Asian Championship **Gold medal (2): 2011, 2013 * ...

. There he alongside Mohammad Mousavi and

Adel Gholami Adel Gholami (, born 9 February 1986 in Amol) is a volleyball player from Iran, who plays as a middle blocker for the Iran men's national team and the club Haraz Amol. Gholami competed at the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics. Career National team H ...

formed a middle block trio. Even though Shafiei wore number 6 in both Kalleh and Novin Keshavarz but because number 6 was already taken by Mousavi, Shafiei chose number 16 which from then on became his signature jersey number. Sarmaye Bank finished the season 1st with 20 wins and only 2 losses. Shafiei helped Sarmaye Bank eliminate Shahrdari Tabriz VC (3-2 & 0-3) and

Saipa Tehran VC Saipa Tehran Volleyball Club (, ''Bâshgâh-e Vâlibâl-e Sâipâ-ye Tehrân'') (formerly known as Saipa Alborz) is an Iranian professional volleyball team based in Tehran, Iran. They compete in the Iranian Volleyball Super League. The team is own ...

(3-1 & 1-3) to reach the finals against

Paykan Tehran VC Paykan Tehran Volleyball Club (, ''Bâshgâh-e Vâlibâl-e Peykân-e Tehrân'') is an Iranian professional volleyball team based in Tehran, Iran. The team is owned by Iran Khodro, an Iranian automobile manufacturer, and it competes in the Iranian ...

. He started the game on the bench but was substituted with Gholami and helped Sarmaye Bank make a comeback and win the first match 3-2. Followed by a 3–0 victory in the second game of the series which made their 2016/17 playoff run a perfect 6-0. After winning his first IVSL championship, Shafiei went on to win his first AVC Club Volleyball Championship in the

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

edition of the tournament, Defeating Wolf Dogs Nagoya 3-0 in the final game. Shafiei renewed his contract with Sarmaye for 2017/18 season.

(2017 - 2018) Season

Similar to the previous two seasons, Sarmaye Bank VC kept its "Galactic" status by renewing with the majority of its world-class stars, among whom :

, Shahram Mahmoudi,

and the famous middle block trio

, Mohammad "Seyed" Mousavi and Ali Shafiei. With Milad Ebadipour and

Farhad Zarif Farhad Zarif (; born 3 March 1983 in Mashhad) is an Iranian professional volleyball player who plays for Paykan Tehran. He was previously on the Iranian national team. Honours National team * Asian Championship **Gold medal (2): 2011, 2013 * ...

being the only two major players who left the club and were replaced respectively by

Mojtaba Mirzajanpour Mojtaba Mirzajanpour Muziraji (, born 7 October 1991) is an Iranian volleyball player {{short description, none This is a list of lists of volleyball players, and of notable examples in fiction. Lists of notable players * List of internation ...

and Mehdi Marandi. Sarmaye's dominance over the league peaked in this season and the club reached a record 57 points with 19 wins and 3 losses, finishing the regular season with a significant 10 point gap with the second place Saipa VC. In the quarterfinals of the play-off round Sarmaye defeated Havash Gonbad VC with back to back 3-0 results and reached the semifinals against Paykan. A repetition of the last two finals and a modern day rivalry, Shafiei aided Sarmaye defeat their arch rivals 3-0 and 3-1 to reach the finals for the third straight season. There the team faced playoff wonders Khatam Ardakan VC. The 7th place team during the regular season whom overcame odds by defeating the 2nd place

Saipa SAIPA (, ''SAIPA'') is an Iranian automaker headquartered in Tehran. The SAIPAC (an acronym for the French ''Société anonyme iranienne de production des automobiles Citroën'' lit. ''Iranian Limited Company for the Production of Citroën Autom ...

and 3rd place

Shahrdari Tabriz Shahrdari Tabriz Cultural and Athletic Club (, ''Bashgah-e Futbal-e Vârzeshi-ye Shiherdari Tebriz'') was an Iranian sports club most widely known for its professional football team based in Tabriz, Iran. Shahrdari Tabriz also has futsal, basket ...

. The underdog put on a fight, however it was not enough and after a 3-2 and a 3-1 victories Sarmaye successfully defended their title for another year with another impressive 6-0 playoffs run. With 3 championships, Sarmaye surpassed Kalleh Mazandaran VC as the 2nd most successful club in the IVSL. Despite qualifying for the AVC Club Championships, it was announced that Sarmaye Bank would no longer sponsor a team in the IVSL. Shafiei's efforts during this legendary Sarmaye IVSL run and his performance in the Club World Championships brought much attention to him and once again he was invited to national team.

Honors

National team

* Asian Championship **Gold medal (1) :

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

**Silver medal (1) :

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years for athletes of Asia. The Games were regulated by Asian Games Federation from the 1951 Asian Games, first Games in New Delhi, India in 1951, until ...

**Gold medal (1) :

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior list of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the contin ...

**Gold medal (1) :

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Club

* Iranian Volleyball Super league (IVSL) ** Champion (2) :

** Runner-up (2) :

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

* Asian Club Volleyball Championships (AVC) ** Champion (1) :

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shafiei, Ali 1991 births Living people Sportspeople from Amol Iranian men's volleyball players Volleyball players at the 2018 Asian Games Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games Asian Games gold medalists for Iran Iranian expatriate sportspeople in France 21st-century Iranian sportsmen Asian Games gold medalists in volleyball