Italy beats France 3-1 to win EuroVolley Pool D with five straight victories

Perfect group stage conclusion

Italy closed Pool D at EuroVolley 2026 in first place with a 3-1 victory over France at the Scandinavium Arena in Gothenburg, Sweden. The win gave head coach Julio Velasco's squad 15 points across five matches, finishing the preliminary phase with five consecutive victories. Prior to facing France, Italy had earned four straight 3-0 sweep victories against Croatia, Montenegro, Sweden, and Slovakia. Playing in front of 863 spectators, the Italian team dropped its first set of the tournament in the second frame before recovering to secure the win with set scores of 25-19, 19-25, 25-23, and 25-19.

Tactical battle and match progression

Velasco started setter Alessia Orro, opposite Paola Egonu, outside hitters Myriam Sylla and Ekaterina Antropova, middle blockers Anna Danesi and Sarah Luisa Fahr, and libero Fersini. Italy took a 7-1 lead in the opening set, which French spiker Bah left after suffering an ankle injury following a block attempt at 18-17. The French squad, coached by Cesar Hernandez Gonzalez, leveled the match in the second set by taking advantage of Italian offensive lapses. In the third set, France opened an 11-14 advantage before Velasco called a timeout, followed by an overturned net violation call on Antropova that returned a point to Italy. Fahr contributed a block for 15-14 and Egonu closed the frame at 25-23. In the fourth set, Italy faced a 13-16 deficit before producing a 6-0 run that dismantled France's defense and completed the match.

Individual scoring contributions

Paola Egonu led the scoring with 22 points across the four sets, though one agency report recorded her total at 20 points. Ekaterina Antropova contributed 12 points, followed by Sarah Luisa Fahr with 10, Myriam Sylla with 9, and team captain Anna Danesi with 7. For France, Cyrielle Depie recorded a team-high 18 points as her side challenged Italy's defense throughout the afternoon. Velasco evaluated his team's capacity to adjust under defensive pressure after the final whistle.

Today I liked the team, they provided answers. The players did not sit there talking, but continued playing ball after ball, always reacting in the right way, which is important, even if some did not play at their level. There was the right humility, the one that allowed us to achieve certain goals over the last two years, facing things as they are and not as they were expected to be.

Knockout path and tournament context

Italy now travels to Brno, Czech Republic, where the team is scheduled to play its round-of-16 fixture on Sunday against the fourth-placed finisher from Pool B. That opponent will be determined when Pool B concludes on 27 August, with Ukraine, Bulgaria, and Austria in contention for the slot. Pool D action finishes on 27 August with matches between Croatia and Montenegro at 16:00 and Sweden against France at 19:00. Italy previously won European titles in 2007, 2009, and 2021 before finishing fourth in 2023. As current Olympic and world champions, the team seeks to match the Soviet Union's achievement from the late 1960s to early 1990s of holding all three international titles simultaneously.