Poland's women's volleyball team remains unbeaten at the European Championship 2026 and has reached the semifinals, where it will face Italy on Saturday for a place in the final.
Poland reached this stage after beating Turkey, the defending champions and one of the sport's traditional powers, 3-2. The European Championship is held every two years and ranks among the sport's most prestigious continental competitions.
Speaking to Polsat Sport ahead of the match, Poland assistant coach Joanna Podoba-Malicka said her players would need to give 110 percent, since 100 would not be enough. She said Italy was interested only in gold, but that Poland had nothing to lose and could write a beautiful chapter in its history.
Italy's coach wary of Poland
Italy head coach Julio Velasco struck a cautious tone before facing a Polish side he no longer sees as a straightforward opponent. Quoted by the Italian outlet sport.virgilio.it, he said this was not the same team Italy had beaten in the Nations League, nor the one it defeated in a friendly three weeks earlier. He said Poland would enter the match full of energy after beating Turkey a week before, and that Italy would need to watch them closely.
Velasco is an Argentine-born coach best known for leading Italy's men's team to major titles in the 1990s before later taking charge of the women's squad. Despite his warning about Poland, he said Italy would certainly have a chance to advance if it avoided mistakes and showed what it was capable of. He added that his team would need to find a balance between aggression and clarity, something he suggested might have been missing in its match against Sweden.
A message about mentality
Velasco also revealed he had given his players unusual advice to help them approach the semifinal with the right mindset. Quoted by Interia, he said Italy wanted to win but could not feel obligated to win, and that he had suggested his players avoid reading even messages from their mothers, since even a mother might ask if they were going to win that day, which he said was not helpful.
What happens next
The semifinal between Poland and Italy kicks off at 18:00 on Saturday, September 5. Live text coverage of the match will run on the Sport.pl homepage and in the Sport.pl LIVE mobile app.
Regardless of Saturday's result, Poland will play again on Sunday, in the final if it beats Italy or in the bronze-medal match if it does not. The other semifinal will see Serbia face Turkey.
