The Olympic champion at the helm of "Les Bleus" in Tokyo in 2021, Laurent Tillie, will aim to lead Japan to the Olympic podium in Los Angeles in 2028.

On Monday, Laurent Tillie officially signed a four-year contract with the Japanese federation to become the new national team coach. The goal is clear: a medal at the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.
"The proposed challenge is truly interesting and motivating", says Tillie (60 years old), who will become the second foreign coach of the Japanese national team after Philippe Blain (2017-2024), whom, ironically, he had already succeeded at the helm of "Les Bleus" in 2012. The Japanese were marked by the disappointment of the Paris Games, where they were close to qualifying for the semi-finals against Italy (a 17-15 loss in the tie-break, after having three match points in the third set and another in the fifth).
One of his first missions will be to try to convince some of the key players - setter Masahiro Sekita, star opposite Yuji Nishida, and middle blocker Kentaro Takahashi - to reconsider their decision to retire from the national team. His aura in Japan, where he won Olympic gold with "Les Bleus" at the Tokyo Games (2021) and where he has coached Osaka Bluteon (formerly Panasonic Panthers) since 2020, should help him in this mission, which will begin at the end of the JSV-League season, where his team currently dominates, aiming for the national title. Tillie will not fulfill the final year of his contract with his current employer, so as not to mix commitments.
"I thank the Panasonic management who understood my approach and released me with the support of the Federation", shares the specialist, who will alternate trips between Europe, where some of the best Japanese players play, and Tokyo, where he will have an apartment. From the next Nations League or even the World Championship in the Philippines (September 12-28, 2025), Tillie will obviously face "Les Bleus." An experience that will remind him of the precedent from Euro 2005, when, as coach of Jiří Novák's Czech Republic, he faced Philippe Blain's France."I am not afraid of this encounter", he assures. "There will be emotion, thrills, and nostalgia, for sure. We will only remember the good things. Everyone went their separate ways after the Olympic gold in Tokyo." His path should take him to California in four years.