Varna, Bulgaria, September 21, 2018 – France will try to bank on their winning edge when they face Serbia in the second round of the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship.
Head-to-Head
• France have won all three World Championship meetings with Serbia (including Yugoslavia and Serbia & Montenegro).
• France won 3-1 in 1956, 3-0 in 2002 and 3-1 in 2014.
• These sides have met once in a final at a world level major tournament, with France winning 3-0 in the 2015 World League.
• World level major tournaments are Nations League, Olympic Games, World Championship, World Cup, World League and Grand Champions Cup.
• Including European Championships, France have now defeated Serbia seven times in a row, including twice by 3-0 in this year's Nations League.
Serbia
• After losing their 2018 World Championship opener 3-2 against United States, Serbia rebounded with wins against Cameroon, Tunisia, Australia and Russia.
• In 2014, Serbia also lost their first match, before they won their next five matches at the tournament.
• This will be Serbia's 100th match at the World Championships (including Yugoslavia and Serbia & Montenegro).
• Nikola Jovovic's average of 8.94 running sets per set is only lower than Harrison Peacock's (AUS) 11.85 and Micah Christenson's (USA) 10.55.
France
• France have won three and lost two matches in their 2018 World Championship campaign, winning at least two sets in all five matches.
• Including the bronze medal match in 2014, losses and wins have alternated in the last six World Championship matches for France (L-W-L-W-L-W). According to this run, they should lose the match versus Serbia.
• The last time France won back-to-back matches at the World Championship was against Germany and Iran in the third round four years ago.