Blues: Only three Olympic champions will play this summer

Most of the executives of the French volleyball team have chosen to take a break this summer, so it is with a group composed of only three Olympic champions, including Antoine Brizard, the new captain, that the Blues will compete in the Nations League and then the Euro.

Antoine Brizard, Trevor Clevenot, and Theo Faure. Of the twelve Olympic volleyball champions in Paris 2024, only three are included in the group of 20 players selected to compete in the Nations League and the Euro in the coming months. In agreement with coach Andrea Giani, many of the Blues’ top players have chosen to take a break this summer in order to come back fresher in view of the 2027 World Championship and the 2028 Olympics. Jean Patry, Yacine Louati, Jenia Grebennikov, Barthélémy Chinenyeze, Earvin Ngapeth, and Nicolas Le Goff have decided to take a break, while iconic captain Benjamin Toniutti has decided to retire from international play. Antoine Brizard, the setter from Osaka, who will celebrate his 32nd birthday next month, will wear the armband during this summer of 2026. A summer marked by the Nations League from June 10 to July 19, with twelve matches scheduled before a potential “Final 8” in China, followed by the Euro from September 9 to 26 in four countries.

Giani: “We have more than four months of common life ahead of us”

Andrea Giani fully understands this decision of his top players. “I accepted mainly for two reasons. The first is that players, when they are in the French team, must be 100% physically and mentally, and I felt that this would not be the case for them. The second is that our team needs significant player changes in the coming years. With the schedule of the season, we have more than four months of common life ahead of us, between May 18 and the end of the European Championship, that’s a lot of time and it gives me the possibility to work for a long period with young players and thus allow them to progress,” he explains on the French Volleyball Federation website.

Winning many matches to get closer to the Olympics

Even if the French group will be rejuvenated and inexperienced, the objectives will not be any less high, as LA2028 is already on everyone’s mind. “The new players must understand that the French team is something else than the club, it involves additional responsibilities. The goal of the group today is to qualify for the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, which is not going to be easy, because to get there, either you win the European Championship this year, or a medal at the World Championship next year, or you have a very high ranking. So that means winning many matches, it starts from this season. This is what I will ask of the players and winning many matches involves discipline and quality every day in training and being 100% during matches, it concerns both players and staff,” Giani states. The Blues will gather from May 19 in Tourcoing and will play several friendly matches before the start of the Nations League on June 10 against Italy in Canada.

List of the 20 Blues:

• Setters: Antoine Brizard (Osaka Bluteon/Japan), Amir Tizi-Oualou (Modène/Italy), Thomas Gill (Toulouse)
• Receivers/Attackers: Trevor Clevenot (Ziraat Bankkart Ankara/Turkey), Mathis Henno (Gorzow/Poland, then Paris), Hilir Henno (Lublin/Poland), Antoine Pothron (Belchatow/Poland), Timothée Carle (Wolfdogs Nagoya/Japan), Thomas Pujol (Poitiers)
• Opposites: Theo Faure (Trentino Volley/Italy), Stephen Boyer (JTEKT Stings Aichi/Japan), Nathan Feral (Cuneo/Italy)
• Liberos: Benjamin Diez (Padua/Italy), Luca Ramon (Tours)
• Middle Blockers: Francois Huetz (Paris), Joris Seddik (Piacenza/Italy), Daniel Iyegbekedo (Piacenza/Italy), Haukea Marie (Montpellier), Moussa Gueye (Lviv/Poland), Simon Magnin (Poitiers)