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EuroVolley Takeaways: Italy's Men Played Through the Weather
Italy beat Sweden 3-0 in Piazza del Plebiscito in front of a sold-out 6,000, with the Italian head of state watching and the match stopping repeatedly for the conditions. Germany beat Turkiye in Cluj-Napoca.
Italy opened the men's European championship on Thursday night on a court built in the open air in the main square of Naples, and beat Sweden 3-0 (25-22, 25-21, 25-17) with 6,000 people inside a sold-out Piazza del Plebiscito.
Sergio Mattarella, the President of the Republic, watched it. The court sat in the open in front of the Palazzo Reale, the wind got into the first set and the players went back to warming up every time the officials stopped it, which is not a thing that happens to them indoors.
The Interruptions Were the Part Nobody Planned
Yuri Romano, Italy's opposite, speaking in Italian to Volley News and translated here.
Tonight was unique as an event, and not only because of the weather. I think we will be talking about it for a long time. Even the build-up was incredible, and then with the President of the Republic, Mattarella, there, it was all even better. Happy to see an arena like this one, outdoors, with 6,000 people inside it.
The strangest part was the interruptions, because obviously indoors it never happens to us that we have to stop for the weather. We had to warm up two or three times, every time we started again. At the beginning the wind did not help us either, but in the end everything went better and in patches you even saw some good volleyball. We take home this important result and a clean 3-0 that we needed to start this European Championship well.
Ferdinando De Giorgi, who coaches Italy, told the Italian federation that his players had been part of a unique event and that he was proud of having played the match at all. Nobody on either side has said the conditions changed the result, and Italy won it in three.
Germany Beat Turkiye Without Its Opening Set
Germany beat Turkiye 3-1 (23-25, 25-22, 25-21, 25-19) at the BTarena in Cluj-Napoca, losing the first set and then taking three. Theo Mohwinkel scored 16 on 72 percent of his attacks, with Erik Rohrs and Moritz Reichert on 14 each.
Moritz Reichert, the Germany outside hitter, speaking in German to the German volleyball federation and translated here.
We started well, but then we had a situation where we lost three or four easy points, and with them a bit of our rhythm. So for us as a team it was important to stay calm, to come back, and then to play three good sets.
Germany and Turkiye are both in the pool that Latvia opened by beating the hosts Romania 3-1 (26-24, 18-25, 25-21, 26-24) at the same arena, with two of those four sets finishing 26-24.
Bulgaria's Setter Scored Seven Points, All Aces
Bulgaria beat North Macedonia 3-0 (25-17, 25-19, 25-18) at Arena 8888 in Sofia on the opening night, watched by a crowd the CEV puts at more than 9,000. Aleksandar Nikolov scored 19 and Denislav Bardarov 15.
Simeon Nikolov, who sets, finished with seven points and seven aces on the Bulgarian News Agency's count. Every point the setter scored came off his own serve.
Poland swept Portugal and Finland swept Denmark in Tampere on Thursday, and France beat Switzerland in three with a second set that finished 31-29.
Eight Teams Are Out Before a Knockout Round
Twenty-four teams are spread across Italy, Bulgaria, Finland and Romania until 26 September, in four pools of six, with each host nation taking a pool.
The top four in each pool reach the round of 16 and the bottom two go home. That is eight teams eliminated before a knockout match is played.
The team that wins the whole thing goes to the 2028 Olympics and never has to qualify again. Third place or better is worth a place at next year's World Cup in Poland, on the FIVB's count.
De Giorgi told the CEV that seven of the ten highest-ranked teams in the world are European. Three World Cup places and one Olympic place exist, so at least three of those seven go home from their own continental championship with nothing at all.
