Franco José Vieira Neto

Franco José Vieira Neto
portrait
birthday	November 11, 1966
place of birth	Fortaleza, Brazil
size	1.92 m
partner	1990–2002 Roberto Lopes 2003 Harley 2004–2005 Tande 2005–2008 Cunha 2008–2009 Benjamin 2010 Jan 2011 Lipe
World ranking	Position 74
successes
1993/94 - FIVB Tour Champion 1995/96 - FIVB Tour Champion 1996 - 9th Olympic Games Atlanta 1999 - Bronze Pan American Games
(As of August 30, 2011)

Franco José Vieira Neto , called Franco (born November 11, 1966 in Fortaleza ) is a Brazilian beach volleyball player .

Career

Franco played in his school days as a goalkeeper on a soccer team before he became a volleyball player after moving. In 1990 he completed his first international beach tournaments alongside his long-term partner Roberto Lopes . The Brazilian duo immediately established themselves among the world's best and won eleven open and two world series tournaments by 1996. In 1993/94 and 1995/96 they were the FIVB Tour Champions. At the Olympic tournament in Atlanta Franco and Roberto Lopes lost to the Spaniards Bosma / Jimenez in the third main round , before they lost on the losing side to the Norwegians Kvalheim / Maaseide and finished ninth. The same result happened at the 1997 World Cup . Two years later they did not get past 33rd place at the World Cup in Marseille . They then won bronze at the Pan American Games . After missing the 2001 World Cup , they split in late 2002.

With his new partner Harley , Franco won the Grand Slam in Berlin in 2003 . At the World Cup in Rio de Janeiro they won the first knockout game against their compatriots Fábio Luiz / Paulo Emilio as runners-up in the group and failed in the round of 16 after three sets against the Americans Blanton / Nygaard . In 2005 Franco and Tande finished 13th at the World Cup in Berlin . In the same year he formed a new duo with Cunha . Franco / Cunha made it into the medal ranks in several tournaments. At the 2007 World Cup in Gstaad they had to admit defeat to the Americans Gibb / Rosenthal after a sovereign preliminary round as group winners in the round of 16 . In 2008 and 2009 Franco played with Benjamin ; his best result during this time was a third place at the Mallorca Open. In 2010 he could not score with Jan , at the Brasilia Open 2011 he finished 17th with Lipe .

Web links

• Profile at FIVB (English)
• Profile in the Beach Volleyball Database (English)
• Franco José Vieira Neto in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ FIVB world rankings