Why France Should be Excited About Appointment of Belgium Star John-John Dohmen as Head Coach

There is a great deal of excitement and anticipation around the France men’s hockey team over the appointment of world’s most capped men’s hockey player (481 international caps) and Belgium star John-John Dohmen as its head coach. The five-time Olympian, who has literally won everything with the Red Lions (2018 World Cup, 2019 Euro Championship & 2021 Olympics besides an Olympic runner-up finish in 2016), and called time on his international playing career after Belgium’s surprise quarterfinal exit at the 2024 Paris Olympics, is expected to propel the Les Bleus to newer heights.

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The 37-year-old, who has played club hockey for clubs such as Oree, Waterloo Ducks and Leepold, would take over from Frenchman Frederic Soyed, who took charge of the France men’s team in 2021 after a long seven-year stint as Spain’s men’s team coach. Interestingly, Dohmen is the second foreign coach to be at the helm of the France men’s team – former Dutch stalwart Jeroen Delmee (the current Netherlands’ men team coach) coached the France men’s team from 2017 to 2021.

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France’s stock on the world stage has increased at a steady pace – Les Blues may not have made it to the medal rounds of big-ticket events but have shown enough indications that they have the ammunition to not just match but also beat the best in the business. At the 2024 Paris Olympics, France played out a fighting 3-3 draw against eventual Olympic semifinalist Spain in the pool stage and had lost narrowly to Olympic quarterfinalist Great Britain by the odd goal in three. This may not be reflected in their 11th place finish.

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France reached finished 13th at the 2023 World Cup and along the way held Argentina to a thrilling 5-5 draw – at the 2018 World Cup, Les Bleus made it to the quarterfinals from a pool ahead of teams such as Spain and New Zealand. France showed they have it in them to play top hockey as they stunned Argentina 5-3 and held Spain to a 1-1 draw. This was of course, on the back of a steady stream of talents emerging through the junior ranks, with France’s runners-up finish at the 2013 Junior World Cup providing a bedrock.

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The national side have a quite few players who play club hockey overseas. Burly fullback and drag-flicker Victor Charlet plays for Belgium club Waterloo Ducks, while midfielder Gaspard Baumgarten turns out for another Belgium club Leopold with the forward duo of Etienne Tynevez & Charles Masson playing for Gantoise alongside Timothee Clement.

The steadily-built reputation of France hockey side can be gauged from the fact that the likes of Victor Charlet and Timothee Clement were snapped up by Team Gonasika in the 6th Hockey India League. Clearly, the move by the French Hockey Federation to install John-John Dohmen in the hot seat augurs well for France hockey and hopefully, France would emerge even more formidable on the world stage under the tutelage of Dohmen.