France captured the 2015 FIVB Volleyball World League title with an impressive sweep of their Group 2 matches and an even more striking performance in the Group 1 Final Six in Rio de Janeiro. That performance came after finishing runners-up in Group 2 in 2014, when they lost to hosts Australia in the final. At the 2014 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship they topped a second round pool ahead of hosts Poland and progressed all the way to the third-place match, before losing in straight sets to Germany.

France finished second to Brazil in the 2006 World League but they have had their share of disappointment in subsequent seasons. In 2009, they narrowly missed making the Final Six, falling at the last hurdle to Argentina. They suffered another setback in 2010 when they again missed the finals and finished 12th. The Frenchmen have qualified for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games after finishing third at the World Olympic Qualification Tournament in Japan. France made their Olympic debut in 1988 in Seoul, Korea, finishing eighth overall. They returned at Barcelona 1992. They missed the next two cycles and came back in Athens 2004.