Historic success at the Men’s Volleyball Championships! This team surprised everyone
This is definitely the biggest success in the history of Finnish volleyball! The men’s team won bronze medals at the European Championship 2026, defeating Slovenia 3-0.
Sensational, because it was difficult to predict that Finland would be at such a far stage of the tournament, even before it started. However, the Finns have consistently proven that they can really do a lot. First of all, by playing volleyball that is interesting to the eye, without making many mistakes, and most importantly – without being afraid of any rival on the other side of the net.
It is therefore not surprising that in the quarterfinals of the European Championship 2026, Finland was able to beat the Italians (3:2), thus causing the greatest sensation in recent years in the history of European national volleyball.
Finland with a European Championship medal! An amazing dream come true
The Finns achieved their best result at the European Championship so far in 2007. Then the team entered the best four of the tournament, but ultimately lost a place in the final by a hair’s breadth to the Spaniards (later champions), and then the Serbians were better in the bronze medal match (3:1).
This time, the Finns did not let go of the chance they had won. It is true that they lost to France (1:3) in the semi-final on Friday (September 25), but a day later they were successful in the competition against Slovenia. The same one that Poland beat in the final game.
ME 2026: The Polish national team defends the title. Where and when to watch the Polish final?
The Polish national volleyball team has won gold medals in the European Championships twice in its history. Poles won in 2009 and 2023. Historically, Poland won its first title in Turkey, and Piotr Gruszka was honored with the MVP award.
The last tournament, the 33rd edition in the history of the Men’s Volleyball Championship, was held in four countries: North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Israel and Italy. Ultimately, in the final battle in Rome, the Poles defeated the Italians 3-0. The MVP award went to Wilfredo Leon.
Looking at the entire history of the Men’s Volleyball Championships, Poland won a total of 11 medals. This is the third best result in terms of the number of Old Continent championship medals won by Polish representatives. There are two gold medals (2009, 2023), and five silver medals in a row (1975, 1977, 1979, 1981 and 1983). What is even more interesting, at that time only the USSR volleyball players won the championship titles. In the years 1967-91, the Soviet Union national team won 10 titles out of 11 editions of the European Championship.
Poland won four bronze medals at the European Championships, in the editions of 1967 (the first medal for volleyball players in the history of the European Championships) and more recently – 2011, 2019 and 2021.
The final of the European Championship 2026 Poland – France on Saturday (i.e. September 26), starting at 9:00 p.m.
Matches of the European Men’s Volleyball Championship 2026 are shown on Polsat open channels (meetings of the Polish national team) and Polsat Sport. On the Internet, you can use the Polsat Box Go platform.
