France - Pool D (Scroll down for Spanish)
France and its capital, Paris, have played an immensely important role for the development of international Volleyball. At a meeting held in Paris from April 18-20, 1947, Volleyball federations from 14 countries founded the Federation International de Volleyball (FIVB), the sport's governing body. Now, with its 217 affiliated national federations, the FIVB is the largest international sports federation in the world and boasts no less than 34,780,153 registered players and millions more who play the sport recreationally. It was again in Paris, who hosted the 1956 World Championship with 24 men's teams from four continents, that time France finished seventh. At another World Championship held in Paris 30 years later the French side achieved the sixth position. Last year, France pulled off one of the major surprises at the World Championship in Argentina when they overwhelmed the Olympic champions Yugoslavia to claim the bronze and set off a frenzy of media reporting on the national team. To add more glory to the teams best ever performance, Frantz Granvorka became the tournament's Best Server while Hubert Henno was awarded the Best Digger. During the 1980s, France also fought to the top spot in Europe, winning the silver medals at the European Championship in 1987 (Belgium) and the bronze in 1985 (the Netherlands). France participated in the opening three editions of the World League then returned to the elite selection in 2000. In 2001, France qualified for the finals for the first time to finish fifth. Last year, the French had a great start, winning the preliminary phase pool but the finals turned out to be a disappointment and gave no warning to their opposition that two months later they would power back into the international limelight and claim the World Championship bronze medal in Argentina. France entered 2003 at fifth place on the FIVB World ranking and, in this year's edition of the World League, will face Argentina, Greece and Japan in Pool D. 

Squad: Patin (Asnières Volley Ball 92, FRA); Lemarrec (TOAC - TUC, FRA); Carletti (Avignon VB, FRA); Daquin (LATINA, ITA); Montmeat (Stade Poitevin, FRA) ; Monneraye (Dunkerque Dunes Flandres VB, F) ; Kieffer (Paris VB, FRA ) ; Capet (Tourcoing L.M., FRA); Ces (TOAC - TUC, FRA) ; Mistoco (Arago de Sete VB, FRA) ; Marquet (PADOVA, ITA) ; Antiga (Paris VB, FRA) ; Granvorka (CUNEO, ITA ); Frangolacci (Paris VB, FRA) ; Barca-Cysique (Nice VB, FRA ) ; Duhagon (Stade Poitevin, FRA) ; Samica (VERONE, ITA); Henno (Tours VB, FRA).