Grbic and Poland Meet France Tonight in Euro Final
Nikola Grbic leads Poland into tonight's European Championship volleyball final against France in Milan, at 9 PM, with a place at the Olympic Games also at stake.
When the last whistle for kickoff sounds tonight in the arena in Milan, a Serbian coach will once again be sitting on Poland’s bench, just as calm as he has been through nine previous major tournaments. Nikola Grbic and his team are playing for a tenth straight medal, this time against France, in a European Championship final that starts at 9 PM.
Poland reached the final without dropping a single set. In the semifinal they beat Slovenia 3-0 (25-23, 25-23, 25-18), even though the Slovenians twice threatened a comeback. In the first set Poland led by six points, 20-14, before letting Slovenia close the gap to 20-18 ahead of closing out the set. A similar script played out in the second set, when Slovenia wiped out an 11-15 deficit to level the score, only for Grbic’s players to reel off three points in a row, go up 24-21 and convert their third set point. The third set carried no such drama: Poland took control after a 17-14 run and closed out the match in one hour and 35 minutes. Bartolomej Bolondz led the winners with 14 points, while Vilfredo Leon, Tomas Fornal and Bartolomej Lemanjski each added 11. Slovenia, who had eliminated Serbia 3-0 in the round of 16, were led by Nik Mujanovic with 20 points.
France had a tougher route to the final. They beat Finland 3-1 (25-17, 18-25, 25-18, 25-15) in one hour and 48 minutes, with the Finns’ only real success coming in the second set, when they tied the match at 1-1. Across the remaining three sets, France left no room for an upset. For Finland, the semifinal was historic all the same, just not in the way it might first appear. It was not the country’s first trip to the final four but its second: Finland also reached the semifinals in 2007, finishing fourth that time. This run to Milan came by way of a quarterfinal upset of Italy, 3-2.
The gold medal match carries extra weight. Europe’s champion is guaranteed a direct spot at the Olympic Games, so Milan is hosting not just a fight for a medal but a race for an Olympic berth as well. This is Poland’s eighth European Championship final. They won their first title in 2009 and have collected five runner-up medals from finals they were unable to close out. France arrives with less history riding on this particular matchup, but simply reaching the final has already secured them something else: a direct spot at the 2027 World Championship, which will be held in Poland.
For Grbic, tonight is a chance to extend a run almost unheard of in volleyball: ten major tournaments, ten medals, without a single exception since he took charge of Poland’s bench. Ahead of the final, at 5 PM, Slovenia and Finland play for bronze, with the final itself set to air on Arena 2 Premium.
Poland go into the match as defending champions and the only team yet to drop a set, no small feat at this stage of a major tournament. France can play with less weight on their shoulders, having already locked in their World Championship spot regardless of tonight’s result. All of that fades into the background once play begins at 9 PM; the only question left is which of the two coaches lifts the trophy in Milan.
