VNL 2024

MVP Brizard guides France to second VNL gold

The setter and six other players were selected for the tournament’s Dream Team

Published 09:01, 30 Jun 2024

Antoine Brizard France MVP Volleyball Nations League 2024-min

French setter Brizard high-fives his teammates before the start of the VNL gold medal match

France have one of the strongest setter duos in international men’s volleyball and one of their two skilled playmakers, 30-year-old Antoine Brizard, was instrumental in the team’s victory at the Volleyball Nations League 2024.

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A Tokyo Olympic champion, Brizard alternated with team captain Benjamin Toniutti during the Preliminary Phase, but got most of the playing time during the VNL Finals in Łódź, Poland, guiding the Olympic champions to wins over the three best-placed teams in the FIVB World Rankings that took them back to the top of the podium following their first victory in 2022.

Also picked as the best in his position, the setter was one of three French players selected for the VNL 2024 Dream Team, alongside opposite Jean Patry and middle blocker Nicolas Le Goff. Runners-up Japan, with outside hitter Yuki Ishikawa and libero Tomohiro Yamamoto, and third-placed Poland, with outside hitter Tomasz Fornal and middle blocker Jakub Kochanowski, had each two members of the ideal lineup.

VNL 2024 Dream Team

Most Valuable Player: Antoine Brizard (France)
Best Setter: Antoine Brizard (France)
Best Opposite: Jean Patry (France)
Best Outside Hitters: Yuki Ishikawa (Japan) and Tomasz Fornal (Poland)
Best Middle Blockers: Nicolas Le Goff (France) and Jakub Kochanowski (Poland)
Best Libero: Tomohiro Yamamoto (Japan)

Volleyball Nations League 2024 Men's Dream Team-min

Ishikawa, Fornal, Le Goff, Brizard, Patry, Kochanowski and Yamamoto forrmed the VNL's Dream Team

Brizard appeared in each of the 15 matches of the French campaign in the VNL 2024, scoring 26 points, with ten aces, nine kills and seven blocks. The playmaker accumulated 250 successful sets during the tournament, 65 of which in the Finals, which made of him the second-highest ranked player in that category among the ones that played in Łódź.

It was the first time that Brizard won the MVP award in an international volleyball tournament. He was considered the best setter of the 2011 U19 World Championship and repeated the award at the club level in the 2021-2022 season of the Italian League, playing for Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza.

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