2026 FIVB Men's European Volleyball Championship predictions and betting odds

By Deniss Novickis | Published: 8 September, 2026, 10:15

The 2026 Men's European Volleyball Championship will be held from 9 to 26 September, with 24 teams battling it out across Bulgaria, Finland, Italy, and Romania. A total of 76 matches will be played before a new European champion is crowned. The tournament will conclude in Milan, where the semi-finals and final will take place.

Poland, the defending champions, will be hoping to retain their title after defeating Italy 3-0 in the Rome final in 2023. However, Olympic champions France and world champions Italy have totally different ideas. There is plenty at stake beyond the gold medals, with the champions securing a place at the 2028 Olympic Games, while the top three teams will qualify for the 2027 FIVB Men's Volleyball World Cup in Poland.

2026 FIVB Men's European Volleyball Championship: Odds and top favourites

Poland

Poland arrive at the European Championship as the defending champions and the team to beat after another outstanding summer. Nikola Grbić's side won the 2026 Volleyball Nations League, with outside hitter Tomasz Fornal taking the MVP award, and they retain an elite core including Wilfredo Leon, Aleksander Śliwka, Kamil Semeniuk, setter Marcin Janusz and middle blocker Mateusz Bieniek.

The major setback is the absence of Jakub Kochanowski, whose knee problem requires surgery and rules him out of EuroVolley. Veteran opposite Bartosz Kurek is also taking a year away from the national team, although he has stressed that he has not retired internationally. Grbić brings considerable international experience, having coached Serbia before taking charge of Poland, and has now guided the team to consecutive VNL titles.

Italy

The Italians enter EuroVolley with a formidable pedigree, but some questions were raised after a less convincing VNL campaign. The reigning world champions reached the VNL Finals but were eliminated in straight sets by the United States in the quarter-finals, eventually finishing fifth. Setter Simone Giannelli remains the heartbeat of the team, while Daniele Lavia, Yuri Romanò, Gianluca Galassi and libero Fabio Balaso provide a wealth of experience.

The biggest story is Alessandro Michieletto, arguably Italy's most explosive attacker: a back injury kept him out for months and the entire VNL, but he returned to the EuroVolley preparation squad in August after a lengthy recovery. Coach Ferdinando De Giorgi is one of the most experienced figures in international volleyball, having transformed Italy into European and world champions during his tenure. His challenge is restoring the ruthless consistency that made Italy so successful in recent years.

France

The defending Olympic champions, France, face a fascinating EuroVolley after a major generational transition. The 2026 VNL campaign was underwhelming by their standards, with six wins and six defeats leaving them 11th. However, the team still possesses serious quality through setter Antoine Brizard, opposite Théo Faure, outside hitter Trévor Clevenot and young talents such as Mathis Henno and Amir Tizi-Oualou.

The most significant change is the absence of several veterans: Benjamin Toniutti has retired internationally, while Earvin Ngapeth, Jenia Grebennikov, Kévin Tillie and Nicolas Le Goff are all taking a break from the national team. That leaves Andrea Giani, himself a three-time world champion as a player, to oversee a substantial rebuild. His coaching CV is exceptional, including national-team spells with Slovenia and Germany before taking charge of France in 2022.

Slovenia

Slovenia may be the most intriguing dark horse among the established European contenders. They produced the best VNL campaign in their history in 2026, finishing third in the preliminary phase with a 10-2 record before winning their first-ever VNL medal by beating Japan for bronze. Much of the attention will be on 21-year-old opposite Nik Mujanović, who finished second among the VNL's top scorers and has developed into one of Europe's brightest young stars.

Rok Možič remains another major attacking threat, while experienced figures such as Tine Urnaut, Klemen Čebulj, Jan Kozamernik and Gregor Ropret give the side an excellent balance of youth and experience. Italian coach Fabio Soli has plenty of international experience, having previously coached Estonia and worked with Italy's national setup, while also winning the Champions League with Trentino. There are no major injury absences dominating Slovenia's preparations, making them a particularly dangerous opponent.

Bulgaria

The Bulgarians head into EuroVolley with enormous expectations after their stunning run to the 2025 World Championship final, and they will enjoy home support in Sofia. The team remains extremely young but has already shown it can compete with Europe's elite: Bulgaria beat reigning world champions Italy in the 2026 VNL and finished ninth overall. The Nikolov brothers are central to the project: outside hitter Aleksandar Nikolov finished as the VNL's leading scorer with 278 points, while teenage setter Simeon Nikolov has emerged as another exceptional talent.

Martin Atanasov, Alex Grozdanov and Venislav Antov add further international experience. Gianlorenzo Blengini brings an impressive résumé, having previously coached Italy and won major international medals before taking charge of Bulgaria. A significant piece of news is that his contract has been extended through 2028, and he will also take over Italian club Vero Volley Milano after EuroVolley.

While France won the Olympic gold at home, this tournament always looked like a two-horse race between Italy and Poland. The latter are a more solid team for my money and also hold an upper hand against Italy in their recent head-to-head meetings. While Italy will once again have a home advantage, I just can't see anyone stopping the Poles this year.

First, let's talk about Group C with Belgium, Serbia, Finland, Netherlands, Denmark and Estonia. While the bookmakers believe Belgium are the favourites to win the group, I like Serbia's chances to finish first much more. They are a more experienced team with better players, and they achieved better results in all recent international tournaments. Moreover, Serbia won nine out of ten previous meetings between the sides, including the last six.

Group D is another decent outright betting option, as you can opt for France finishing first at 1.66. While the odds are not great, the current Olympic champions should prevail over both Turkiye and Germany, while Romania, Switzerland and Latvia are destined to battle for fourth place. I fully believe in Andrea Giani’s side here, as the French should have no problems in occupying the top spot.

The 2026 Men's European Volleyball Championship features 24 national teams. Twelve teams qualified automatically. These included the four host nations and the best-performing teams from the previous edition. The remaining 12 places were decided through qualification, where 21 teams competed across seven groups.

The final tournament begins with a group stage, where the 24 teams are split into four groups of six. Each team plays the other five teams in its group once, earning three points for a 3-0 or 3-1 victory, two points for a 3-2 win, and one point for a 3-2 defeat.

The top four teams from each group advance to the knockout stage, meaning 16 teams reach the play-offs. From there, the tournament becomes a straight single-elimination competition, with the winners progressing through the quarter-finals and semi-finals before the champion is crowned at the Unipol Dome in Milan.

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