New faces lead France to victory over Czechia in Tours

The French men’s national team returned to action for the first time after their victory at last year’s Paris Olympics on Wednesday, and, despite looking entirely different than the one that took gold at the South Paris Arena nine months ago, had a promising start to their season.

The team coached by Italian legend Andrea Giani faced Czechia in a preparation match for the Volleyball Nations League 2025, where they also are the defending champions, and despite fielding an extremely young lineup, won the match 3-0 (25-18, 25-20, 25-23) and also prevailed in the extra set, triumphing 25-22.

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Giani had only two players who were part of the squad that gave the French their second-straight Olympic title last year available – star outside hitter Trévor Clevenot, who was the team captain, and opposite Théo Faure.

The two veterans were flanked by other players with some international experience, such as libero Benjamin Diez and middle blocker Joris Seddik, but the French roster also featured many players who were making their national team debut, such as outside hitters Noa Duflos-Rossi and Mathis Henno, middle blocker Simon Magnin and opposites Nathan Feral and Anatole Chaboissant.

“It was the first match for many of our players, so there was definitely some pressure and emotions tonight,” Giani said. “This is a very talented group of young players who have been playing together for four years and are European and world champions. Making a national team debut is never easy, but they showed talent and character.”

Faure led France’s scoring efforts with 12 points and Henno also had a solid performance, adding 11. Feral displayed great quality from the service line, firing four aces.

“The team did a great job tonight,” Clevenot said. “We played with great focus from the start to finish, and even the younger players were very strong mentally. It was the first match for more than half of our team, and it was great to see them perform in the way they did. I’m happy for them, and I know they are capable of much more. The goal now is to find consistency at the international level.”

France will be in Quebec, Canada, in the first week of the VNL 2025, where they will play Argentina, Italy, Canada and Germany from June 11-15.

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