Roberto Piazza, a 48-year-old Italian with a coaching career of over two decades, is officially the new coach of the Qatar national volleyball team.
The bespectacled Piazza had been appointed by the Qatar Volleyball Association in January. The Italian and QVA President Khalid Ali al Mawlawi signed a one-year contract in Doha on Monday. Also present on the occasion were QVA Board Member Ali al Faihani and Qatar National Team Manager Mohammed Jassim al Kuwari.
Having helped Germany bag the European Games gold medal in Baku, Azerbaijan last year as a second coach to Vital Heynen, Piazza moved to Greece to guide popular Olympiacos. He will formally assume coaching in May after finishing his present term with the Greek side.
“It’s pleasure to be here. I’ve seen Qatar’s matches against Australia, China and India (during the Asian championships). I have seen the local competition (QVA League) matches. The level of players is good. There is a big potential to improve.
“I know that Cichello had done a great job with the national team. I would like to extend his good work. My main aim would be to maintain the current level,” added Piazza, who came in place of Argentine Juan Manuel Cichello, who has shifted to Iran and working under Raul Lozano to prepare the team for the Rio Olympics.
Mawlawi commented on the new coach, “We’re honoured to sign well-known coach Roberto Piazza for the Qatar national team. We’ll be working with him for the development and growth of the national team. Our first important event is the 2016 World League, which is a great achievement for us to get a place in this high-class event.
“The second target is the AVC Asia Cup to be held in India later this year. The coach has suggested some names in the support staff and we’d provide the required persons so that he can do his job well,” Mawlawi continued.
“We do have targets for Piazza and I think the goals are both achievable and practical. In the World League, we just want to be strong and tough competitors. But in the Asia Cup, we’d like to finish better than the fourth place that we got in the Asian championships (in South Korea last year),” the QVA boss said.
Piazza said that he would like to go step by step in pursuit of the objectives that the QVA has set for him. “The World League is our first step. There are strong teams in the Group 3 like Germany and Slovenia. Germany are the European Games champions and Slovenia finished runners-up. So our aim would be to prepare the team to be competitive and play good volleyball against such difficult rivals. This will also be a good chance for our players to test themselves against quality opponents.
To a question if about a month’s time would be enough for him to make Qatar team strong for the World League, he said, “A strong team is a big word. But I feel a coach needs about 20 good sessions in 20 days to reach a competitive level. Of course, I need to examine all the Qatari players personally.
“I may call a lot more players and after 10 days, we will focus on 15 players who will finally Qatar’s first impression on the World League.”
He also said he would need more than a season to deliver the goods. “A coach really needs more than a season to prove himself. I’ve seen in the past that Qatar is improving fast. During the Emir Cup, I’ll get an ideal opportunity to see the national team players against some important players of the world. That is the right time for them to learn something.
“My dream is to learn and improve something every day. I’ll try my best to better what has been achieved so far. We’ve to go one step at a time. We can talk about the real assessment of the work only at the end of the season or next year,” added Piazza.
Factfile
Name: Roberto Piazza (48 yrs)
Nationality: Italy
Date of birth: 29 January, 1968
Volleyball
Role: Coach
Current team: Olympiacos (Greece)
To join: Qatar national team
Career (Youth)
1985-1987 Volleyball Parma
Clubs
1987-1989 Parma
1989-1990 Piacenza
Coaching career
1990-1996 Volleyball Parma, deputy
1996-2007 Sisley Volley, deputy
2007-2009 Dinamo Moscow, deputy
2009-2012 Sisley Volley
2012- 2015 PV Cuneo
2016 – Olympiacos
Achievements
Player
Cup Winners’ Cup : 2
Parma: 1987-1988 , 1988-1989
Assistant Coach
Domestic competitions
Serie A1 : 9
Parma: 1991-1992 , 1992-1993
Treviso: 1997-1998 , 1998-1999 , 2000-2001, 2002-2003, 2003-2004, 2004-2005, 2006-2007
Italian Cup: 5
Parma: 1991-1992
Treviso: 1999-2000 , 2003-2004 , 2004-2005 , 2006-2007
Italian Super Cup: 7
Treviso: 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007
Russian championship: 1
Dinamo Moscow: 2007-2008
Russian Cup: 1
Dinamo Moscow: 2008-2009
International competitions
Champions League : 3
Treviso: 1998-1999 , 1999-2000 , 2005-2006
Cups CEV / Challenge Cup : 4
Parma: 1991-1992 , 1994-1995
Treviso: 1997-1998 , 2002-2003
European Super Cup : 2
Parma: 1990
Treviso: 1999
Coach
International Competitions
CEV Cup : 1
Treviso: 2010-2011