Volleyball: Poland beat France to retain their European crown

Poland won the men’s European volleyball championship final in Milan on Saturday, 26 September, beating France three sets to one. Italpress and specialist outlet Volleyball.it agree on the result: 31–29, 25–19, 20–25, 25–16. Poland retain the European title, while France take silver.

A tight opening set, then a French response

The first-set score shows how close the opening was: the teams had to go beyond the usual 25 points to settle it. Poland then doubled their lead. France extended the final by winning the third set before losing the fourth.

Volleyball.it’s report records 20 points for Mathis Henno and 18 for Théo Faure on the French side. Poland’s Bartłomiej Bołądź scored 16, while Wilfredo Leon and Tomasz Fornal each added 13. These figures help explain the match without attributing the result to a single player.

Another meeting between two leading teams

The final brought together the defending European champions and the Paris Olympic champions. The Italian federation had confirmed their qualification the previous day: Poland eliminated Slovenia 3–0 and France beat Finland 3–1. Their campaigns therefore ended in a direct contest for gold in Milan.

For readers following both countries, this fixture offers more than a choice of sides: it provides two sporting cultures and two sets of expectations through which to experience the same event. In our reading, the final continues their rivalry at the highest level, with Poland holding the advantage this time.

The result to remember

Poland–France: 3–1, Saturday, 26 September 2026, Milan. Set scores are shown with Poland’s score first.

Original AI-generated illustration: a symbolic evocation of the final, without depicting players or an actual scene.