Born in 1960 in Montpellier, Philippe Blain has led his country to several considerable achievements since he was appointed France’s head coach in 2001.The start of his international coaching career was incredible where he guided France to fifth place in the 2001 World League before dismissing the Olympic champions Serbia and Montenegro 3-0 in the bronze medal match at the 2002 World Championships.

The shine dimmed a little when an underachieving French team could only manage a 10th place finish in the 2003 World League, but Blain witnessed a marked improvement as “les bleues” placed fifth in the 2003 World Cup held in Japan and earned a silver medal at the European Championships. Now in 2004, Blain preferred to rest some of his stars during his fourth World League in charge with the Olympics in mind.

Blain was a regular member of the French national squad in major international competitions throughout the 1980s. The former receiver-spiker played for his country at two World Championships, four European Championships and at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. He was awarded the best player award at the 1986 World Championship in France.

Since he began his coaching career in 1991, Blain was in charge of various French and Italian clubs, including AS
Cannes, Arego Sets and Alpitour Cuneo. He has been a member of the FIVB Coaching Commission since 1999.