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Poland's Men Are EuroVolley Champions Again 🏆
They beat France 3-1 at the Unipol Forum for Europe's place at Los Angeles 2028, and Wilfredo Leon was MVP for a second straight edition. Finland beat Slovenia for the first European medal in their history.
Poland beat France 3-1 (31-29, 25-19, 20-25, 25-16) at the Unipol Forum in Assago on Saturday night and took the last of the five continental places at the Los Angeles Olympics.
It is a third European title for Poland and a second in a row. The CEV has them as the first men's side to go back to back since Italy in 2003 and 2005.
Wilfredo Leon opened the match with three consecutive aces and finished the tournament as its most valuable player, in front of a crowd the Italian federation put at more than 11,000.
Twelve Points Separated Them Over Four Sets
Poland scored 101 points across the four sets to France's 89. Eight of that twelve-point margin came from their own scoring and four from the extra errors France made.
The FIVB has Poland out-attacking France 57-52, ahead 8-6 on aces and 9-8 on blocks. That is 74 scoring points to 66.
WorldOfVolley gives France 27 errors against Poland's 23. Seventy-four and 27 make Poland's 101, and 66 and 23 make France's 89.
Bartlomiej Boladz led Poland's scoring with 16. Wilfredo Leon and Tomasz Fornal had 13 each, Bartlomiej Lemanski 12 and Dominik Semeniuk 10.
Mathis Henno was the match's top scorer with 20 for France. Theo Faure had 18 and Trevor Clevenot eight.
Two of the Four Sets Finished Within Five
France have one European title, from 2015, and came to Milan as the reigning Olympic champions from Tokyo and Paris. They won the third set 25-20 and were 12-4 down in the second.
Andrea Giani, France's head coach, speaking to the CEV.
Our goal was to play a long match and we played at their level in two of the four sets. Don't forget in our team there are players who were in a EuroVolley final for the first time in their careers. I see this as a starting point for a group that can only grow; at the end we have to accept the defeat because Poland played better.
The four set margins were two, six, five and nine points. He is right about two of them. France's own best set was the one Poland answered 25-16.
Finland Beat Slovenia Without Losing a Set
Finland beat Slovenia 3-0 (25-23, 25-20, 29-27) in the bronze match four hours before the final, with Nooa Marttila scoring 19 and Luka Marttila 17, the pair the CEV's own caption calls the Brothers.
Finland first entered a European championship in 1955 and had never won a medal at one. The third set of this one went to 29-27 and Slovenia did not win any of the three.
Slovenia played a fourth consecutive European final four without their captain Tine Urnaut, who fractured a foot in the pool stage, and went home from Milan without a medal.
Poland Leave Milan With a Place and the Awards
Five continental champions and the host now hold places at the Honda Center in July 2028. Japan, Cuba, Brazil, Tunisia and Poland are the five, and it will be Poland's twelfth Olympic tournament on the FIVB's count.
Four of the seven players in the all-tournament team were Poles, with Bartlomiej Lemanski, Szymon Jakubiszak and Jakub Popiwczak named beside Leon. Antoine Brizard and Theo Faure took two of the other three for France, and Finland's Nooa Marttila the last.
Leon is the second man named the European championship's most valuable player in consecutive editions, on Sportowy24's count. The first was Andrea Giani, in 1993 and 1995. Giani spent Saturday night coaching France.
