France finished second behind Brazil in the 2006 FIVB World League after several years of success, but they have struggled to live up to the early promise of the past decade. In 2008, France failed to qualify for the Olympic Games and Philippe Blain's team ended a disappointing 10th in the 2008 World League. In the 2009 World League they narrowly missed making the Final Six after falling at the last hurdle to Argentina. However, they turned things around and qualified for the World Championship in Poland, before winning silver at the European Championships. They suffered heartbreak again in the 2010 World League when they were pipped to the Final Round and eventually finished 12^th. At the World Championship in Italy later in the year they could only go one better, coming in 11^th. Their preparations for 2011 weren't helped by the retirement of libero Hubert Henno and captain Oliver Kieffer, but they remain hopeful of repeating past successes. France took the bronze medal at the 2002 World Championship, their first appearance in the tournament in 12 years, and moved up to fifth in the FIVB World Rankings. They then went on to take silver at the 2003 European Championship.