• The French volleyball team is playing the quarter-finals of the World Cup against Italy, this Wednesday, in Slovenia.

  • The Blues will rely on their libero, Jenia Grebennikov, who plays at the Zénith Saint-Petersburg, in Russia.

  • Despite the war in Ukraine, the 32-year-old chose to stay at his club.

It's the carbon footprint that will still take a hit.

Currently in Slovenia to compete in the quarter-finals of the World Volleyball Championships with the France team against Italy this Wednesday, Jenia Grebennikov will then join Poland, if all goes well for the Blues, and Katowice, host city of the semi-finals and the final.

And then, with the world title in his pocket, the French libero will have to return home, to his club, in Russia.

Katowice-Saint-Petersburg: 1,460 km, a trifle.

Except that, since the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian forces of Vladimir Putin, on February 24, one can only enter Russia by plane via Istanbul or Dubai.

A nice detour that the former Rennes player and his family have already experienced.

After the start of the conflict, his wife, then pregnant, had left Saint Petersburg "alert, because we were afraid and all the flights were shielded", says the French international.

The foreign players of the Zenith remained

Jenia Grebennikov, he stayed on the banks of the Neva, where he had signed a beautiful three-year contract with the Zénith in 2021. That allowed him to join the country of his father, a former volleyball international with the USSR, and see part of his family still in the country.

Obviously, the question of leaving quickly arose when the conflict broke out, but he, like other foreign players, chose to continue their adventure in Russia.


🗯 @GrebennikovJeni #ОлимпиадаСуперэксклюзив



📝Полная версия интервью: https://t.co/UhwVc2zz6X pic.twitter.com/86J8EPPkMK

— Zenit St. Petersburg Volleyball Club (@vczenitspb) August 6, 2021

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“If it [the war] spreads, I may reconsider my choice, but I'm dependent on the market, he explained to us before the Worlds.

And, for the moment, there is nothing.

I am a Zenith player.

Maybe next summer we'll be in talks.

And then it also depends on whether they want to keep me or not.

At the Zenith, apart from the Ukrainian players who left, everyone stayed.

»

“If football had left, I would have left too”

The 32-year-old libero also saw that the foreign footballers from the Zenith had also left their suitcases in Saint Petersburg.

“I was in contact with Iranian striker Serdar Azmoum [parti à Leverkusen] and I asked him if he could have any news and he told me that everyone was staying.

Lovren was not leaving, the Brazilians [like ex-Bordelais Malcom] too.

But if football had left, I would have left too.

Because football is really the big thing.

»

He was also reassured by the French Embassy, ​​with whom he is in regular contact.

And by the French Volleyball Federation, with whom "there was no problem", according to the person concerned.

“He had signed his contract before the start of the conflict, indicated Eric Tanguy, the president of the French Volleyball Federation in

Le Parisien

.

If he did not respect it, he could find himself in a delicate situation because he would be at fault.

His future in the France team is not threatened.

»

“If there is no war, it is paradise”

Above all, Jenia Grebennikov feels good in Saint Petersburg, where the effects of the war are not felt, if we do not take into account the closure of certain international businesses: “I did not see anything crazy outside.

Everyone asked me how I was doing and I said: “But there's nothing”.

People thought there were soldiers in the street, but no, not at all.

I live my life, and if I feel something is wrong, I will leave.

I speak Russian, so I know indirectly quickly if something is happening quickly.

»

If he does not really know what to expect on his return to Saint Petersburg after this long summer break, the man with more than 260 caps will return with his wife and two children: “They will come with me, because the crèche over there is too good.

The infrastructures are incredible, there are eight students for three teachers.

I'm in an incredible building, there are plenty of sports, the city center is magnificent.

If there was no war, it would be paradise.

»

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  • Volleyball

  • French volleyball team

  • Volleyball

  • Sport

  • War in Ukraine

  • Russia

  • zenith st petersburg