France claim the reputation as one of the best European nations with a good men’s volleyball programme. In the youth tournaments, France finished seventh in the FIVB Volleyball Boys’ U19 World Championship and third in the European Championship in 2001. They claimed the silver medal after losing to Poland in the final of the European Championship in 2005, while they finished in sixth place at the U19 World Championship in 2005. In 2007, they won every single game in the qualification tournament and earned the ticket to the European Championship in Austria, which they eventually won the title after defeating Poland, and then took the bronze medal in the U19 World Championship. In 2009, they took their second European Championship title but landed in 12th place in the World Championship. France settled for silver against Serbia in the European Championship and finished just one place off the podium in 2011. After missing the podium in the European and World Championships from 2012 to 2014, France landed in ninth place at the European Championship in 2015 but nonetheless earned the ticket to the World Championship because of its FIVB world ranking.