Italy vs France Prediction & Betting Tips - Euro Volley

Prediction published on 13/09/2023, 11:50  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 13/09/2023 at 12:52 in Euro Volley Predictions

Hosts Italy take on France for a place in the final of the 2023 Men's European Volleyball Championships. Italy are third in the world rankings and that's four places higher than their opponents. The Italians are the current world champions having won the title last year. They are also the reigning European champions but not the top ranked team in the world. That's currently Poland and the winners of this match will take on either the Poles or Slovenia in the final. The Blues have won all seven of their matches in this tournament. They won Pool A with only two sets being dropped in their five matches. That took them into a last 16 match against North Macedonia and they won that 3-0 for the loss of just 47 points. Another good win came in the quarter finals when they came from behind to beat the Netherlands. The first and fourth sets were lost but they got past the team ranked tenth in the world 15-12 in the final set.

France are hoping to add the European Championships to add to the Olympic title that was won in 2021. They last won the European title in 2013 and haven't reached the final since then. The last championships saw them lose at this stage and eventually finish in fourth place. France won four of their five matches when topping Pool D. They did lose to Romania though which was disappointing. Their coach wasn't pleased with the way his team performed in the pool stages but they have had two good results since then. They beat Bulgaria 3-0 in the last 16 and then repeated that scoreline in the quarter finals when getting revenge on Romania. Both of those sides are ranked outside the top 20 though and this is going to be a lot tougher. Our tip is for Italy to win this semi-final.