Frenchman Laurent Tillie named Japan coach

In Volleyball, French excellence is the envy of people abroad. Laurent Tillie, Olympic champion in 2021 at the head of the France team, was appointed on Monday to the post of coach of Japan, where he succeeds another Frenchman, Philippe Blain. Tillie, 60, will have the main objective of winning a medal with the Japanese selection at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028.

The French coach, former international player and father of Kévin Tillie, Olympic gold medalist with the Blues in 2021 and 2024, is already present in Japan, where he coaches the Osaka Bluteon. “It’s a big challenge, not easy to take on, but a bright future awaits us with the help of the talented and experienced players and management. We can take it up” said Tillie, as quoted by the Japan Volleyball Federation (JVA).

JVA President Shunichi Kawai, for his part, “hoped that the fine knowledge [de Laurent Tillie] characteristics of Japanese players and teams, as well as their culture, allows Japan to go higher”. “We will try to achieve our goal of winning a medal, which we did not succeed in Paris this year” he added.

At the origin of the first titles of the Blues

Before the Tokyo Olympics, Tillie was at the origin of the Blues' first titles, a European Championship (2015) and two World Leagues (2015 and 2017, now Nations League). Ironically, he had already succeeded Philippe Blain as head of the French team in 2012.

The latter, aged 64, teammate of Tillie in the French team in the 1980s, took charge of the Japanese selection in 2021 after having been assistant coach from 2017.

He made Japan a rising star on the world stage, with two podiums in the Nations League (3^e in 2023 and finalist in 2024) without however managing to bring them a first Olympic medal: the Japanese selection was eliminated in the quarter-finals in the tie-break by Italy during the Paris 2024 Games.