The upcoming games for Dutch middle blocker Jasper Diefenbach a the 2018 FIVB World Championships will be his last. The 30-year-old 6’5″/1.95m player will retire following his last match at these world championships.
“My decision to stop has multiple reasons,” Diefenbach told AD Sportwereld in a statement. “I have been a professional for eleven years, my girlfriend lives in the Netherlands and that means that we do not see each other very much. I also want to start a career in society.”
Diefenbach has been playing internationally for the Dutch since 2011 and has been playing professionally for 11-years. He’s spent a two-and-a-half-year stint as the captain of the Dutch squad and played in a total of over 140 international matches.
So far in the tournament the Dutch team has four wins and one loss, losing their first match to Canada at the beginning of the tournament. They’re ranked second in Pool D in the first round advancing to the second.
The Netherlands will be competing in Pool E with Italy, Russia, and Finland. They’ll need to finish within the top 2 in their pool if they want to advance on to the round of 32 and have a shot at the finals. They’ll face each of the teams in their current pool once before those results are decided.
The timing of Diefenbach’s retirement relies on the Dutch team’s ability to advance.
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