Earvin N'Gapeth (born 12 February 1991) is a French

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

player, member of the France national volleyball team and

Iranian Iranian may refer to: * Iran, a sovereign state * Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran * Iranian lan ...

club Paykan Tehran VC, 2015 European Champion, gold medallist of the World League (

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

and

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

), French Champion (2010), Italian Champion (2016) and Olympic Champion (2020).

Personal life

His father Éric, from

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

, is a former volleyball player who represented France in the 1980s. His father named him after Earvin "Magic" Johnson. Growing up, he played youth

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

alongside current Paris Saint-Germain defender

Layvin Kurzawa Layvin Marc Kurzawa (born 4 September 1992) is a French professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Premier League club Fulham, on loan from Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain. Kurzawa began his career at Monaco in 2010, and played 96 ...

when the pair lived in

Fréjus Fréjus (; ) is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 54,458. It neighbours Saint-Raphaël, effectively forming one urban agglomeration. The north of ...

. Ngapeth is a model and brand ambassador for

Adidas Adidas AG (; stylized as adidas since 1949) is a German multinational corporation, founded and headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, that designs and manufactures shoes, clothing and accessories. It is the largest sportswear manufactur ...

Legal issues

In December 2014, he was sentenced to three months suspended imprisonment by the Criminal Court of Montpellier for a fight in a nightclub in the city a few months earlier. In July 2015, he was arrested and heard in an open hearing by the police following the assault of a TGV train ticket inspector in the Paris-Montparnasse train station. In December 2019, he was arrested in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, accused of sexual harassment for slapping a woman's behind without her permission.

Career

Club

In season 2008-09 he debuted into professional volleyball, hired by

Tours VB Tours VB is a professional men's volleyball club which is playing their home matches at the Salle Robert Grenon in Tours, France. Tours VB plays in LNV Ligue A, top volleyball league in France. According to Media Guide book, the annual budget o ...

, where he stayed for three seasons and winner Pro A League. In season 2011-12 he was hired in the Italian team of Cuneo Piemonte in Series A1 League, where he remained for two seasons. With the team, he reached the final of the CEV Europe League. N'gapeth in the next year moved to Kuzbass Kemerovo, a club playing in

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

; however, during the season he abandoned the team and returned to Italy, wearing the shirt of

Modena Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...

in the Serie A1. With Modena, he won the 2014-15 Italian Cup and the 2015-16 Italian Championship, Italian Cup, and Italian Supercup. In the season 2015-16 he won his second Italian Supercup. Ngapeth after four years in Modena joined

Zenit Kazan VC Zenit-Kazan (russian: Зенит-Казань), until 2008 known as Dinamo Tattransgaz Kazan (russian: Динамо-Таттрансгаз), is a professional men's volleyball team based in Kazan, Russia. It plays in the Russian Volleyball Sup ...

with a two-year contract.

National team

On October 7, 2010 he was expelled from the national team on disciplinary grounds during

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

held in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. He came back to national team at European Championship 2011. In 2014 played at World Championship 2014 held in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

. France lost the match for the bronze medal with

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and took 4th place. He was one of the key players in the 2015 World League championship campaign. On October 18, 2015 French national team, including N'Gapeth, achieved title of the European Champion 2015 (3–0 with

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

in the finale). Ngapeth for the second time in a year 2017, selected Most Valuable Player of FIVB World League and winner gold medalist with

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Sporting achievements

Clubs

CEV Champions League The CEV Champions League is the top official competition for men's volleyball clubs from the whole of Europe. The competition is organised every year by the European Volleyball Confederation. Formula (2018–19 to present) Qualification A tot ...

2012/2013 – with

Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo Piemonte Volley, known for sponsorship reasons as Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo, is an Italian professional volleyball club based in Cuneo. The club was founded in 1958 under the name of Cuneo Volley Ball Club and renamed Piemonte Volley in 2001, aft ...

2018/2019 – with

* Asian Club Championship ** Gold medal with cup

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

– with

Paykan The Paykan ( fa, پيکان meaning ''Arrow'') is the first Iranian-made car produced by Iran Khodro (formerly called "Iran National") between 1967 and 2005. The car was very popular in Iran from its introduction until its discontinuation. It ...

* FIVB Club World Championship ** Bronze medal world centered-2

Betim 2019 – with

* National championships ** 2008/2009 Simple gold cup

French Cup, with

** 2009/2010 Simple gold cup

French Cup, with

** 2009/2010 Gold medal with cup

French Championship, with

** 2010/2011 Simple gold cup

French Cup, with

** 2014/2015 Simple gold cup

Italian Cup, with

Modena Volley Modena Volley is a professional volleyball team based in Modena, Italy. It has played in the highest level of the Italian Volleyball League without interruption since 1968. It is the most successful Italian club, having won the national league tw ...

** 2015/2016 Simple gold cup

Italian SuperCup, with DHL Modena ** 2015/2016 Simple gold cup

Italian Cup, with DHL Modena ** 2015/2016 Gold medal with cup

Italian Championship, with DHL Modena ** 2016/2017 Simple gold cup

Italian SuperCup, with DHL Modena

National team

* 2020

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

Youth national team

* 2007

CEV U19 European Championship * 2008 Gold medal europe

CEV U20 European Championship * 2009 Gold medal europe

CEV U19 European Championship

Individual awards

* 2008: CEV U20 European Championship – Most Valuable Player * 2009: CEV U19 European Championship – Best Server * 2009: CEV U19 European Championship – Most Valuable Player * 2011: French Championship �
Most Valuable Player
* 2011: French Championship �

* 2015: Italian Cup – Most Valuable Player * 2015: FIVB World League – Best Outside Spiker * 2015: FIVB World League – Most Valuable Player * 2015: CEV European Championship – Best Outside Spiker * 2016: Italian Championship – Best Player * 2016: European Confederation Gala – Most Spectacular Player * 2017: FIVB World League – Best Outside Spiker * 2017: FIVB World League – Most Valuable Player * 2021: Olympic Games Tokyo – Most Valuable Player and Best Outside Spiker * 2022: Asian Club Championship – Best Outside Spiker * 2022: FIVB Nations League – Most Valuable Player and Best Outside Spiker

References

External links

*
Earvin Ngapeth
at ''LegaVolley.it''

at ''LNV.fr''

at ''WorldofVolley.com''
Earvin N'Gapeth
at ''Volleybox.net'' * * {{DEFAULTSORT:N'Gapeth, Earvin 1991 births Living people French sportspeople of Cameroonian descent People from Saint-Raphaël, Var French men's volleyball players Olympic volleyball players of France Volleyball players at the 2016 Summer Olympics French expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate volleyball players in Italy French expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate volleyball players in Russia Modena Volley players VC Zenit Kazan players Volleyball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for France Olympic medalists in volleyball Outside hitters Tours Volley-Ball players Sportspeople from Var (department)