The French volleyball team qualifies for the Euro final after its victory against Finland

The French volleyball team qualified for the Euro final after its victory, Friday, September 25, in the semi-finals against Finland (3-1: 25-17, 18-25, 25-18, 25-15) in Milan. The Blues will face Poland, the defending champion, on Saturday (9:00 p.m.) in Milan in a repeat of the final of the 2024 Olympic Games which they won. They will aim for a second European Championship after the one won in 2015.

Eleven years later, the Blues, led by their new generation, qualified on Friday for a new Euro volleyball final. In Milan, against those who brought them down to everyone's surprise in the group stage of the 2025 World Cup - but deprived of their injured passer Fedor Ivanov during the warm-up - it was certainly more than revenge that the French sought.

Poland leaves no crumb

And we had to fight, against the untenable Finland, who defeated Italy a round earlier and who above all made them doubt in an almost one-sided second set. The Blues started well. After the first storm, symbolized by Joonas Jokela's rage to win, they then took the lead thanks to two out blocks found by Théo Faure, then launched at high speed.

But like his teammates, the sharp tricolor faded slightly in the second round. The French made many more mistakes, pushed around by the Finns who were very good at receiving and had very solid defense. Thoroughly beaten, Antoine Brizard's teammates returned with more anger, seen in particular on the face of Faure, always him. Quickly, the Blues took off, forcing Olli Kunnari to quickly take two timeouts, the second at 12-5.

Andrea Giani's men then hit the nail on the head. While Finland had been accustomed during the competition to seeing its matches decided by tie-break, as in the round of 16 and the quarter-finals, the French team decided otherwise, by completing the match after a controlled final set. There are now less than 24 hours left for the Blues to prepare for a final against Poland, favorite and there after winning their third victory against Slovenia 3-0 in the knockout phase.