Krakow, Poland, July 16, 2016 - The FIVB Volleyball World League defending champions face the competition's nine-time winners Brazil in the second of the 2016 Group 1 semifinals on Saturday in Krakow.
Head-to-Head
• These teams have met on 22 occasions in the World League. France won five and Brazil 17 times.
• Two of France's five wins came in their last three meetings. They won 3-1 in their second encounter of 2013 and their only meeting in the 2015 edition.
• Brazil and France met earlier this tournament, on 3 July. The Brazilians won 3-1.
• These teams have never met in a World League semifinal, but it is a repeat of the 2006 final for gold. Brazil came back from two sets down to win the final in five sets.
France
• France can become the first team to successfully defend the World League title since Brazil in 2009 and 2010.
• Brazil (2003-07, 2009-10) and Italy (1990-92, 1994-95, 1999-2000) are the only two teams to win back-to-back World League titles.
• Brazil (9), Italy (8), Russia (3) and United States (2) are the only teams with multiple gold medals in the World League.
• In addition to their gold medal of 2015, France also claimed a silver medal in the competition when they lost to Brazil in the 2006 final.
• France are unbeaten in World League semifinals as they beat Bulgaria in 2006 and Poland in 2015.
• Antonin Rouzier leads his teammates in scoring with 145 points (133 spikes, 4 blocks, 8 serves).
Brazil
• Brazil have won a record 18 medals and a record nine gold medals at the World League.
• Brazil have not won the competition since 2010. They lost the final of 2011 and 2013 to Russia and the final of 2014 to United States. Last year they finished in fifth place.
• Brazil are unbeaten in their last five World League semifinals since losing in straight sets to United States in 2008. In these last five semifinals they lost just two sets - 3-1 against Cuba (2010) and 3-1 against Bulgaria (2013).
• Ricardo Lucarelli Santos De Souza (21) is one of two players to have produced more than 20 aces in Group 1 of the 2016 World League. Srecko Lisanic has done this for Serbia (also 21).