Antoine Brizard, the setter for the French national team, is now on the rise. He led his Polish team, Przliga Warsaw, to second place in the league for two consecutive years, and from this season, 2020/21, he will play for Zenit St. Petersburg in Russia. If he is called up to the Russian league, which is high-level and has only two slots for foreign players, it is safe to say that he is a top-class player. He also performed brilliantly with the national team this year. At the beginning of the year, he replaced Toniutti in the semi-finals of the Tokyo Olympic European Qualifiers when Slovenia was down 0-2. He led his team to a brilliant comeback victory, and in the following final, he continued to toss the ball, making a major contribution to the team's qualification for the Tokyo Olympics. Yes, he is on a roll now.
Brizard grew steadily from the under-age category, finishing as runner-up and winning the Best Setter award at the World Youth Championships. He then played for Paris Volleyball from 2012 to 2015, and Toulouse from 2015 to 2017. During his five years in the French league, he was runner-up four times, won one cup match, and also won the CEV Cup. After these experiences, he moved to Warsaw in Poland in the 2017/18 season. Under the direction of fellow French coach Antiga, the team only managed 8th place in his first year, but made a leap to 2nd place in his second year. In his third season last year, the team welcomed the legendary Anastasi as their new manager and competed in the domestic league and Champions League. The Przliga season was eventually suspended due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the team finished the league in 2nd place again.
He joined the French senior national team in 2017 after the Rio Olympics. Since the French national team has captain and absolute setter Toniutti, he was used as his backup or one-point blocker for a while. However, as mentioned above, in recent years he has been playing more important roles and has been producing results. It can be said that he is a good accent in preventing the French national team, half of which has not changed since 2013, from becoming stale.
Brizard is good at making the most of the players who are in good form that day, and I think he is a flexible setter who can handle any situation. He is also very attractive as a setter who can score points with blocks and serves. He is a talented large setter, which the French national team has been waiting for. By the time of the 2024 Paris Olympics, perhaps the positions of Toniutti and Brizard will be reversed. No, I hope that happens.
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Photo by CEV
Antoine Brizard
Born May 22, 1994 (26 years old) / Born in Poitiers, France / Height 195 cm / Weight 96 kg / Highest height 346 cm / Setter / Member of Zenit Saint Petersburg / National team history 2017-
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