Paris (AFP)
Laurent Tillie will leave, after the 2020 Olympics, his position as coach of the France volleyball team that he has occupied since the summer of 2012, we learned on Tuesday from concordant sources, confirming information from the daily newspapers Ouest- France and L'Equipe.
Laurent Tillie is on contract as coach of the French men's volleyball team until August 31, 2020 and will not extend beyond, said these sources.
The former French international (more than 400 caps) must join the Japanese club of the Panasonic Panthers of Osaka after the Olympic Games, advance Ouest-France and L'Equipe. He would succeed Mauricio Paes, who has been in Osaka since 2016.
Tillie will complete an eight-year term as head of the France team this summer with the Tokyo Olympics (July 24-August 9). The Blues snatched the qualification for Japan in a very high intensity tournament in early January in Berlin.
For this second consecutive ticket after Rio-2016 (9th place), the golden generation of French volleyball (Earvin Ngapeth, Jenia Grebennikov, Benjamin Toniutti, ...) will try to climb on a first Olympic podium, while France has not is never hoisted in the half of the Olympics in four participations (Seoul-1988, Barcelona-1992, Athens-2004 and Rio-2016).
Under the orders of Laurent Tillie, the Blues have written the most beautiful pages of French volleyball, with a year 2015 crowned with a World League in the summer and a title of European champion in the fall.
It will therefore be necessary to find a successor after Tokyo-2020, while the prospect of the Olympic Games 2024 in Paris will approach, with the guarantee of a place in the Olympic tournament as a host country, without going through the endless and exhausting labyrinth. qualification tournaments.
© 2020 AFP