The new VNL 2027 Finland member delivered one of the most significant results so far at the Men's European Championship, after decisively defeating Serbia 3:0 (25:19, 25:21, 25:23) in Group C in front of a full Nokia Arena in Tampere.
The Serbs, led by Gheorghe Cretu, were favorites before the match, but Finland controlled the game for most of its duration. Serbia's most serious chance to get back into the match came in the third set when they led 12:6. However, the Finns erased the deficit and reached 25:23, closing the match in three sets.
The big figure for the winners was Joona Jokela. The opposite hitter finished with 19 points, scoring 17 out of 24 attacks – 71% success rate. Noah Marttila added 12 points. For Serbia, the top scorer was Lazar Marinovic with 14 points, and Drazen Luburic finished with 11.
The defeat proved to be extremely heavy for Serbia in the world rankings as well. Before the match, the Serbs had 237.22 points, while Finland had 228.12. The 3:0 victory brought the Finns a significant 10.51 points and took the same amount from Serbia.
Thus, Finland now has 238.63 points and climbed three positions to 13th place in the world, while Serbia dropped three places to 16th position with 226.71 points.
This is another indicator of how seriously the European Championship can reshuffle the world rankings. For opponents with relatively close ratings, a decisive victory like this brings a huge gain, and for the loser, the cost is just as high.
For Serbia, the defeat comes after their victory over Estonia at the start of the tournament. The next opponent for our western neighbors' team is the Netherlands. Finland topped the group after three wins from three matches.

photo: cev.eu