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A year can make a remarkable difference in international volleyball.
Twelve months after the World Championship in the Philippines established a new global hierarchy, EuroVolley 2026 has delivered a powerful reminder that even the strongest teams are never guaranteed a place among the contenders when the next major tournament begins.
The European Championship has become a tournament of unexpected reversals, missed opportunities and extraordinary comebacks.
Of the four national teams that reached the semifinals of the 2025 World Championship, only Poland remain in contention for the continental title. Bulgaria, Czechia and Italy have all been eliminated, with the hosts’ exit in Turin providing the latest and perhaps most dramatic chapter in a championship that has repeatedly defied expectations.
For Finland, meanwhile, the story could hardly be more different.
A team that arrived in the quarter-finals as an outsider has now secured a place among Europe’s final four, eliminating the reigning world champions on their own court and earning the right to travel to Milan with a medal within reach.
The contrast between the established powers and the teams challenging them has become the defining feature of this edition of EuroVolley. And nowhere was that contrast more evident than at Turin’s PalaVela.
Italy’s elimination against Finland was not simply another quarter-final upset.
It was a defeat that struck at the heart of the hosts’ ambitions, ending their hopes of competing for medals in front of their own supporters and raising difficult questions about a team that had entered the tournament with the European title firmly in its sights.
Ferdinando De Giorgi’s side lost 2–3 (25:21, 26:28, 16:25, 25:20, 13:15), despite appearing to have the match under control at several crucial moments.
Italy took the opening set, recovered from a difficult third set to force a decider, and then moved within four points of the semifinals.
At 11–8 in the tie-break, the path to Milan seemed almost open.
Italy had the momentum, the home crowd behind it and the match within reach. Yet Finland found a way back, scoring seven of the next nine points to turn a three-point deficit into a 15–13 victory.
For the Finns, it was the culmination of a performance built on resilience, tactical discipline and the conviction that the occasion did not have to dictate the outcome. For Italy, it was an evening that will be remembered for a missed opportunity and the painful realization that a match can be lost even when victory seems so close.
The reaction in the Italian press reflected the magnitude of the disappointment.
La Gazzetta dello Sport went with the blunt headline “È flop Italia” — a failure for Italy — describing the elimination as one of the lowest points of De Giorgi’s five-year tenure.
The newspaper also evoked the ghosts of Turin, recalling the disappointment of the 2018 World Championship, when Italy had also experienced a painful setback in the same city.
The comparison is particularly striking because Turin was supposed to be the setting for another Italian celebration. Instead, it became the stage for a defeat that has prompted questions not only about the performance against Finland but also about the decisions that shaped the squad before the championship began.
The absence of Alessandro Bovolenta and the decision to build the roster around five outside hitters and only three middle blockers have come under scrutiny. These choices do not, by themselves, explain the result, but they have become part of the wider debate over how Italy approached a tournament in which the margin for error was always going to be small.
Another iconic Italian newspaper, Corriere della Sera, described the atmosphere as darkness falling over Turin, focusing on Italy’s inability to apply its customary pressure from the service line and its difficulties in containing Finland’s attack. The hosts struggled to find consistent answers to Joonas Jokela and Luka Marttila, two of the principal figures behind the Finnish victory.
La Repubblica called the result “Clamoroso al PalaVela”, capturing the sense of disbelief surrounding the elimination. Its analysis highlighted Italy’s reception difficulties, with the Azzurri recording just 35% positive reception compared with Finland’s 51%. Against an opponent capable of exploiting even small weaknesses, that difference made it considerably harder for Simone Giannelli to distribute the ball effectively and keep the Italian attack unpredictable.
Eurosport Italia also described Italy’s performance as a very poor match, while recognizing Finland’s deserved victory and the contributions of Jokela, Marttila and libero Niklas Köykkä.
Taken together, the reactions reveal how the defeat has been understood in Italy.
The result was undoubtedly a surprise, but the discussion has not centred exclusively on bad luck or Finland’s unexpected performance. Instead, attention has turned to Italy’s own shortcomings, the technical errors that accumulated throughout the match and the inability to finish a contest that had been brought within touching distance of victory.
Ferdinando De Giorgi made no attempt to hide behind the circumstances.
“At 11–8, you have to close the match,” the Italian coach acknowledged, accepting responsibility for the outcome. Simone Giannelli was similarly direct, admitting that the team had failed to perform at the necessary level and had committed too many technical errors.
That honesty does little to soften the disappointment, but it underlines the central issue: Italy did not lose because the semifinal was beyond its reach. It lost because, having created the opportunity to reach it, the team could not take the final step.
There is a striking parallel between Italy’s elimination and Bulgaria’s earlier departure from the tournament.
In Sofia, the Bulgarians had taken a 2–0 lead against Germany in the round of 16, only to see their opponents recover and win 3–2. Italy’s collapse was different in its precise circumstances, but the underlying pattern was remarkably similar: two of the teams that had competed for the world’s highest honours in 2025 were eliminated after surrendering control of matches that appeared to be within their grasp.
Bulgaria’s defeat was particularly painful given the home advantage and the expectations surrounding a team that had finished among the world’s four best just a year earlier.
The loss to Germany demonstrated how quickly a promising tournament can unravel when an opponent refuses to accept defeat.
Italy’s exit in Turin carried the additional weight of a home quarter-final and the expectation of a deep run.
Both teams had the opportunity to advance, both reached critical moments with their fate in their own hands, and both were ultimately left to reflect on what might have been.
Czechia’s elimination completed the departure of three of the four World Championship semifinalists.
Their campaigns ended before the decisive weekend, leaving Poland as the only surviving representative of the global top four from the Philippines.
The contrast is difficult to ignore.
The 2025 World Championship had established Bulgaria, Czechia, Italy and Poland as the leading quartet in men’s volleyball, but EuroVolley has demonstrated that those positions offer no protection against the pressures of a different competition, a different opponent or a single decisive set.
Poland now carry the responsibility of representing that group in the remaining battle for the European crown. Their presence in the semifinals provides continuity with the previous World Championship, but it does not mean that the established order has survived intact. If anything, the Polish campaign has unfolded against a background of growing uncertainty over who will ultimately emerge as Europe’s champion.
The identity of Italy’s conquerors makes the story even more compelling.
Finland are no longer simply the surprise package of EuroVolley 2026. By defeating Italy in Turin, they have earned a place among the four strongest teams in the competition and demonstrated that their progress is supported by performances capable of standing up to the highest level of opposition.
Their next challenge will be France, with a place in the final at stake.
In the other semifinal, Poland will face Slovenia, setting up two encounters that bring together established international powers and teams with their own ambitions of reaching the summit of European volleyball.
For Finland, the opportunity is extraordinary.
The team arrived in the quarter-finals knowing that Italy would enjoy home support and carry the expectations associated with being one of the tournament favourites. It leaves Turin having eliminated the hosts and with the possibility of competing for a medal in Milan.
That achievement also changes the way the championship must be viewed.
Finland’s progress is not simply a footnote to Italy’s failure, but a story of a team that has taken advantage of its opportunity, maintained its composure under pressure and earned its place through performance.
The same principle applies to the tournament as a whole.
The departure of Bulgaria, Czechia and Italy does not diminish their accomplishments at the World Championship in the Philippines, nor does it automatically establish a new permanent hierarchy in men’s volleyball. A single European Championship cannot erase the broader records and achievements of these national teams.
But it can reveal how competitive the sport has become.
The gap between the leading nations and the teams challenging them is increasingly difficult to measure by reputation alone. Finland’s victory, Germany’s comeback against Bulgaria and the changing composition of the EuroVolley semifinals all point to a tournament in which preparation, execution and the ability to handle decisive moments have become just as important as previous medals.
One year after the World Championship in the Philippines, the European landscape looks dramatically different. Three of the four global semifinalists are out, the reigning world champions have fallen in front of their home crowd, and Finland are preparing for a semifinal in Milan that few would have anticipated before the tournament began.
Poland remain the sole survivor of the world’s top four.
Finland have become one of the defining stories of the championship.
And Italy, Bulgaria and Czechia are left to consider how quickly the international game can move on.
EuroVolley 2026 has not merely produced a series of unexpected results, but It has challenged the assumption that the teams who stood above the rest last year would necessarily occupy the same positions today.
In Turin, Italy discovered just how narrow the distance can be between a place in the final four and an early end to the dream. Finland, meanwhile, proved that an opportunity is worth nothing unless a team has the courage and composure to seize it.
The European title is still waiting to be decided in Milan.
But the championship has already delivered its most powerful message: in modern volleyball, reputation may earn a team respect, yet only performance can guarantee its place among the contenders.
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🏐| CEV Enel EuroVolley 2026 | QUARTERFINALS
Tuesday September 22, 2026
📍Arena 8888 Sofia
•16.00 (Local Time) | France – Romania 3-0 (25:16, 25:19, 25:19)
📸| PHOTOGALLERY OF THE MATCH
• 19.00 (Local Time) | Poland – Germany 3-0 (25:23, 25:17, 25:17)
📸| PHOTOGALLERY OF THE MATCH
Wednesday September 23, 2026
📍Palavela Torino
• 16.00 (Local Time) | Belgium – Slovenia 1-3 (22:25, 22:25, 25:20, 13:25)
📸| PHOTOGALLERY OF THE MATCH
👉🏼 21.05 (Local Time) | Italy – Finland 2-3 (25:21, 26:28, 16:25, 25:20, 13:25)
📸| PHOTOGALLERY OF THE MATCH
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