Unexpected change of places. A big surprise in the volleyball team

Before the start of the European Championship 2026, Poles were mentioned among the main candidates for gold. This is hardly surprising, since we are talking about the defenders of the trophy (2023) and the leaders of the FIVB ranking. Poland has many top-class players in its ranks, and thanks to this, coach Nikola Grbic has a lot of room for maneuver – even during individual matches.

The Polish volleyball team surprised again! Interesting statistics of Poles

We wrote in more detail about the role played by, for example, Kamil Semeniuk in a separate text in WPROST. This is one of the examples showing that the Serb leading the Poles can rely on virtually anyone who enters the pitch.

This is nothing particularly groundbreaking, considering the way coach Grbic works. Additional confirmation can be found in tournament statistics. Although Poland is among the best four of the European Championship 2026, there is no point in looking for any representative from coach Grbic’s team in the ranking of the best scorers.

In the ranking of the highest scorers, the best Pole, Bartłomiej Bołądź, takes… 19th place. The attacker collected 83 points in seven games. For comparison, the leader of this ranking is Belgian Ferre Reggers, who has 143 points. However, Belgium was eliminated from the tournament after losing to Slovenia (1-3) in the quarterfinals. Close to Bołądź in terms of points is Tomasz Fornal, the author of 79 points.

Play? This is a surprise, because the best Pole is not Wilfredo Leon, an atomically active receiver, but the center Bartłomiej Lemański. So there was a rather unexpected change of places. The new PGE Projekt volleyball player served eight aces in the six matches he took part in. This gives Lemański a place just outside the top ten.

Block? Lemański and Fornal each had 14 points, plus Szymon Jakubiszak with 12.

Coach Grbic is aware that his team has a lot of different arguments with which it can surprise its opponent. This was the case, for example, in the rivalry with Germany, when the Poles had control of the match, but a lot of good was achieved not only by the offensive, but rather by the block-defense system.

– I’m satisfied. Of course, we may not have had many aces or blocks, but we touched a lot of balls. We defended well. I think we had a lot of situations that we created ourselves, on the block and in defense. And that’s why I’m happy. Because sometimes, of course, we will win with a serve, we will win with a block. But today we won with something different. And I’m happy because we have this quality. If one element is not at the highest level, there is another element that then does its own thing. I also hope that we will return to good service. It doesn’t have to be a lot of aces, but a stronger serve. And, of course, there’s the matter of the block. But sometimes it also depends on the opponent’s characteristics. The most important thing for me is that we are healthy and playing at the level we are now, said the coach after the victory over Germany in the quarter-finals of the European Championship 2026.

In terms of rankings, Poles do not shine in the party element. The European champions are focused on playing with the so-called high ball. However, the Polish team is doing very well in such circumstances. It is also an element that knocks the argument out of your opponents’ hands if they have a strong, juicy serve. The Polish receiving line, able to keep the ball in play, gives Marcin Komenda the opportunity to play, and he has plenty to choose from. Importantly, most often with an effective, valuable finish on the net.

ME 2026: The Polish national team defends the title. Where and when to watch Polish matches?

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 semi-final matches of this year’s European Championship are scheduled for Friday (i.e. September 25). First, the Poland-Slovenia clash, starting at 5 p.m. In the second semi-final of the tournament there will be a clash between Finland and France, from 9:00 p.m.

The medal matches will take place on Saturday (September 26).

The 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.