Estonia beat Finland 3-2 in Tampere as Belgium seals Pool C

The decisive set at Nokia Arena began with 9,813 spectators on their feet and ended with most of them sitting in silence. Estonia beat Finland 3-2 (22-25, 25-21, 25-22, 20-25, 15-11) in Tampere on 17 September 2026, closing the Pool C schedule at the 2026 European Men's Volleyball Championship.

In the fifth set, Estonia barely needed a moment of inspiration. They served hard enough to force Finland into high balls, blocked in the right spots on both wings, and let the hosts end their own rallies with errors. It is the kind of finish an underdog learns over years, not the kind it dreams about.

Belgium had already taken first place in Pool C earlier the same day with a 3-0 sweep of Serbia (25-19, 25-21, 25-16). The group crown was settled before the first serve in Tampere. What Finland actually needed was second place, and a kinder path into the round of 16.

Finland took the opening set 25-22. The Marttila brothers and Joonas Jokela kept finding openings against the Estonian block; according to volleytimes.com, it was the only set the hosts controlled on serve. Estonia answered in the second, with opposite Timo Andre Lohmus opening a 16-11 lead before closing it out 25-21.

The third set was the tightest stretch of the match. Luka Marttila ripped three straight aces to pull Finland level at 19-19. Volleyweek.bg recorded that Lohmus delivered a decisive block at 22-20, and Estonia held on to win 25-22. Finland did not fold. Niko Suihkonen, on for Nooa Marttila, scored seven points and forced a fifth set with a 25-20 win in the fourth. Estonia settled it in the tie-break, 15-11.

The final Pool C standings, per volleytimes.com: Belgium 13 points, Finland 11, Serbia 7, Denmark 7, Estonia 5, Netherlands 2. Joonas Jokela made his 100th appearance for Finland. Before the match, Olivia Kunnari, niece of head coach Olli Kunnari, sang the Finnish national anthem.

Afterwards Lohmus said Estonia badly wanted another win in front of the crowd, gave everything it had, and that he was proud of his team. Finland captain Antti Ronkainen acknowledged Estonia played well, said the visitors wanted the fifth set and fought hard to the end, and added that his side now turns to its next opponent.

The number worth analysing is not the 3-2 scoreline. It is that Estonia generated close to 40 of their 107 points through just two attackers.

One detail deserves a pause. Volleytimes.com credits Lohmus with 24 points and Teppan with 16. WorldofVolley credits the reverse: Teppan 24, Lohmus 16. Two outlets covered one match, agreed on the total, and split it between two players in two different ways. The 40-point sum never moves. Data does not lie, but the people who choose data are very good at lying. Across years of following European competitions, I cross-check every statistical sheet before citing it: totals are usually more reliable than the breakdown, and the breakdown is what readers remember.

What is certain is that Estonia did not win through one individual. The match total was 107-104 in their favour. A three-point margin across five sets equals a single deflection in the tie-break. This was not a match the visitors dominated; it was a match they played correctly at three moments.

The first moment was set two, when Lohmus opened a 16-11 gap and forced Finland to shorten its block. The second was set three, when Marttila levelled at 19-19 with three consecutive aces and Estonia still answered with a block at 22-20. The third was the entire fifth set.

This win does not stand alone. Days earlier Estonia claimed their first victory of the tournament, 3-1 over the Netherlands (27-25, 25-22, 18-25, 25-23), where two consecutive Lohmus aces at 22-22 in the fourth set turned the match. The same player, the same weapon, the same decisive moment. Under CEV scoring, those two wins gave Estonia exactly 5 points, meaning one 3-1 victory and one 3-2 victory.

The common reading is that Finland lost a share of the group crown because they lacked nerve in the tie-break. That reading is only half right, and the other half matters more.

Pool C's top spot belonged to Belgium before the match began. Finland walked in on 10 points; a 3-0 or 3-1 win would have lifted them to 13, level with Belgium. A 3-2 win would have lifted them only to 12. In other words, even had Finland won the tie-break, they would not have shared the crown. Estonia denying the hosts anything is arithmetically true and competitively irrelevant.

What Finland actually lost was one set, not a group title. And for a team building its game around the Marttila brothers and Jokela, losing the third set after climbing from 16-19 to 19-19 is a more troubling data point than any standings table.

On the other side, Estonia took nothing from this win but the win itself. On 5 points and fifth place in a six-team pool, they are all but certain to exit when the round of 16 takes four teams per group. A fine victory and an elimination are not mutually exclusive, and European volleyball tends to work that way.

The round of 16 begins on 19 September 2026. In Sofia, Poland meet Latvia and Germany face Bulgaria. In Turin, Finland play Greece and Belgium meet Czechia across 20 and 21 September. Also in Turin, Slovenia face Serbia on 21 September, with Italy meeting Denmark the same weekend. In Sofia, Ukraine play Romania and France face Portugal on 20 September. The semifinals and medal matches will be held in Milan.

A single match cannot move Estonia's place in the table, but it can move what a small volleyball programme accumulates year by year: proof that it can beat a host, in a full arena, in the set everyone knows matters. The remaining question belongs to Finland, and it is not a standings question: who takes the serve when the set reaches its decisive minute?