Italy’s men arrive in Turin with a clean record and the weight of expectation that follows two successive world titles. Ferdinando De Giorgi’s side face Finland at 21:05 on Wednesday 23 September, with a European Championship semi-final in Milan the reward for a place in the last four.
The decision
De Giorgi has a 14-man group available for the quarter-final at the PalaVela. Italy have won all six matches played at Euro 2026 so far, first taking Pool A with five victories and then dismissing Denmark in straight sets in the round of 16.
The pool stage brought 3-0 wins over Sweden and Greece, followed by 3-1 results against Slovakia and Czechia. Slovenia pushed Italy further, but the Azzurri completed a 3-2 victory to finish first in the group.
Denmark were then beaten 25-22, 25-16, 25-11, a performance which carried Italy into the quarter-finals without surrendering their momentum. Finland now stand between De Giorgi’s team and a Milan semi-final against either France or Romania.
Italy’s squad for the match includes setters Simone Giannelli and Riccardo Sbertoli; opposites Yuri Romanò and Kamil Rychlicki; outside hitters Alessandro Michieletto, Daniele Lavia, Mattia Bottolo and Luca Porro; middle blockers Gianluca Galassi, Giovanni Sanguinetti, Francesco Sani and Pardo Mati; and liberos Fabio Balaso and Gabriele Laurenzano.
A long record against Finland
The numbers heavily favour Italy, although knockout evenings have their own demands. The two national teams have met 39 times in official competition, with Italy prevailing on 34 occasions.
At the European Championship, Finland have never beaten Italy: the Azzurri have won each of their 13 meetings. That is Italy’s highest number of victories over a single opponent without a defeat.
Their most recent official fixture came in Milan on 21 September 2018, during the second group phase of the World Championship. Italy won that occasion 3-0. Eight years later, Turin offers a different stage but the same task: turn a strong tournament run into a place among Europe’s final four.
The quarter-final will be shown live in Italy on Rai 2 and Sky Sport Arena, with streaming available through RaiPlay, DAZN and NOW.
