As sudden and unexpected as it was, the resignation, for personal reasons, of Bernardo Rocha de Rezende – known as Bernardinho – did not plunge the French men’s volleyball team into uncertainty for too long. A new coach was chosen by the French Volleyball Federation (FFV) to succeed the Brazilian, who had been in office since the beginning of August 2021, and his appointment was formalized on Tuesday March 22: it is the Italian Andrea Giani.
Just as Bernardinho was a figure in volleyball internationally, notably through his success at the head of the Brazilian national team, Andrea Giani, 51, is also to be classified among the “sizes” of this sport. “After having been one of the best players in the world, he is today one of the very best coaches, we had already taken an interest in his profile when we were looking for a successor to Laurent Tillie”the coach who led the Blues to the Olympic title in Tokyo, emphasized Eric Tanguy, president of the FFV.
In its press release, the French federation recalls that Andrea Giani “started with rowing, the discipline of his father, who participated in the Tokyo Olympics in 1964” before choosing volleyball “at the age of 14 to become one of the greatest players in history in Italy and in the world”.
Objective: a podium at the World Cup, the Euro and the Olympics
Between 1988, date of the first of his 474 selections with the Italian national team, and 2005, he won three Olympic medals (silver in 1996 and 2004, bronze in 2000), won three world titles (1990, 1994, 1998) and four European titles (1993, 1995, 1999, 2003) and won the World League seven times.
A coach for nearly fifteen years of European clubs, he has also led two national teams: he thus led Slovenia to the title of vice-champion of Europe in 2015, doing the same then, in 2017, with Germany. He also broke his contract with the latter to join the Blues.
“Andrea knows what it means to prepare for major international events”, commented Axelle Guiguet, the national technical director of volleyball, while adding that the objectives set for her are ” students ” : to be on the podium at each of the next major international meetings – World Cup, from August 26 to September 11, Euro, next summer, and Olympic Games, in 2024 in Paris.
“This world-class team, reigning Olympic champions, has the potential to win all the competitions in which it participates, assured the person concerned, quoted in the statement of the federation. My objective will be to prepare them well physically and technically, because the goal will always be to win. »