Volleyball Euro 2026: Estonia falls to Belgium 1-3
Estonia's men's volleyball team suffered its third straight defeat at the European Championship group stage in Tampere, losing to Belgium 1-3.
On Monday, September 14, Estonia's men's volleyball national team lost to Belgium 1-3 (17:25, 25:18, 21:25, 14:25) in a Group C match of the European Championship in Tampere, Finland.
Belgium won the first set convincingly. In the second set, the Estonians showed their quality, with 18-year-old Andres Jefanov standing out with a strong performance. The third set was closely contested until 21:21, when Belgium scored four points in a row to close it out. Belgium then dominated the fourth set, closing out the match without major difficulty.
The Estonian squad, coached by Alar Rikberg, had previously lost to Serbia (1-3) and Denmark (0-3) in the tournament.
The Estonia-Belgium match began 25 minutes behind schedule after a marathon preceding contest between Serbia and the Netherlands. Serbia, having lost the first two sets, fought back to win 3-2 (20:25, 23:25, 30:28, 25:15, 17:15).
After three rounds, Finland leads Group C with 8 points, followed by Belgium (7), Denmark (6), Serbia (5), the Netherlands (1) and Estonia (0). Teams need to finish among the top four to advance from the group.
Estonia will next play the Netherlands on Wednesday, September 16.
