Dutch volleyball team eliminated at European Championship after loss to Finland: Germany falls to France in group-stage finale

The Dutch and German men’s volleyball teams both suffered defeats at the European Championship on Tuesday, ending their group-stage campaigns on a low note.
The Netherlands, coached by Joel Banks, was eliminated after a 3-2 loss to host Finland in Tampere (25-18, 21-25, 26-24, 20-25, 11-15). It was their fourth defeat of the tournament, with Oranje squandering a lead for the second consecutive match after a similar collapse against Serbia on Monday .
Germany, meanwhile, lost 0-3 to Olympic champion France in Cluj-Napoca, Romania (21-25, 17-25, 19-25), surrendering the Group D top spot. The team, led by coach Massimo Botti, will advance to the round of 16 as group runners-up, where they will face either Ukraine or Bulgaria. Anton Brehme was Germany’s top scorer with 11 points, but the side struggled against France’s dominant serving, which produced nine aces to Germany’s one .
France’s coach, Andrea Giani, who previously led Germany to a silver medal at the 2017 European Championship, said the strategy was to pressure Germany’s serve. Libero Ruben Schott acknowledged the team’s struggles, stating, “We couldn’t really counter them today,” though he added that the group stage performance overall provided a foundation to build on .
Follow us for live European news
- 2
- 1
- 1
- 1
- 1
- 1
1 further source not geolocated


,xPosition=.5,yPosition=.5;Resize=(1200,675)&impolicy=medium)