EuroVolley 2026 Pool D Preview: Italy Brings a Superteam to Gothenburg, and Nobody's Catching Them

If Pool A has the host nation's story and Pool C has its underdog intrigue, Pool D has something simpler and more intimidating: the best team in the world. Gothenburg welcomes Sweden, Croatia, France, Italy, Montenegro, and Slovakia for a group that, on paper, is a clear tier above the rest of the tournament at the very top, and a genuine scrap for survival everywhere else.

Sweden's Second City Gets Its Moment

Gothenburg doesn't get the name recognition of Stockholm outside Scandinavia, but locals will happily tell you it's the more interesting of Sweden's two big cities. With roughly 622,000 residents, it's the country's second-largest city, sitting on the west coast at the mouth of the Göta älv river where it empties into the Kattegat strait, part of the North Sea system.

The city was founded in 1621 by King Gustav II Adolf, and the original builders brought in were Dutch, which explains the canals still running through the city center and the nickname "Little Amsterdam" that's stuck around for centuries. Gothenburg today is home to the largest port in Scandinavia, Chalmers University of Technology, and some of the region's biggest film and music festivals. The city's Scandinavium arena, where Pool D will be played, has its own piece of music trivia: it holds the all-time attendance record for a concert at the venue, set by Whitney Houston, a record that still stands.

Group play runs August 21 through 27, with all the group-stage action, 15 matches in total, contained to that single week before the group's survivors head off to the knockout rounds elsewhere in the tournament.

One Unmistakable Favorite, and a Fight for Everything Else

The format is the same as every other pool: top four through, bottom two out. But where other groups debate who the favorite actually is, Pool D doesn't really have that conversation.

Italy isn't just the favorite in this group, it's the favorite to win the entire tournament, full stop. The reigning Olympic champions, World champions, and Nations League champions arrive in Gothenburg as, by a wide margin, the best women's volleyball program on the planet right now, having strung together four straight major titles between 2024 and 2025. Head coach Julio Velasco has confirmed that opposite hitter Paola Egonu, a two-time Nations League MVP, along with setter Alessia Orro, middle blocker Anna Danesi, and outside hitter Myriam Sylla, will all be back at full strength for the European Championship after a rotation through the Nations League preliminary rounds. Barring a genuine upset, Italy isn't just winning this pool, it's the team every other contender in the tournament is bracing to face.

France looks like the team best positioned to chase Italy for the top spot, and possibly the group's most interesting story outside the obvious one. French volleyball has gotten steadily more competitive over the past several cycles, and this group gives them a real opportunity to push deep into the knockout stage as a genuine dark horse.

Croatia enters with momentum of its own, a program that's been building steadily and will look to use this group as a platform to establish itself as more than just a middle-of-the-pack European side.

Slovakia rounds out the pool's middle tier, a team that will need to be at its best in the group's tighter matchups to have any real shot at sneaking into the top four.

Sweden gets the benefit of playing in front of a home crowd in Gothenburg, which counts for something in tight sets even against stronger opposition. Realistically, the co-host's ceiling in this group is a competitive showing rather than a run at the knockout stage, but a partisan crowd at Scandinavium is never nothing.

Montenegro is making its tournament debut in Gothenburg, a milestone for the program regardless of what the scoreboard says. Against a group that includes the world's best team, the realistic goal here is simply gaining experience on the continent's biggest stage.

The Favorite, the Chaser, and the Debutant Just Happy to Be There

There isn't much drama around who the favorite is in Pool D. Italy is the best team in the world by a comfortable margin, and this group, star-studded as it looks with a defending champion inside it, exists mostly to determine who finishes second, third, and fourth behind them.

France stands out as the clearest challenger, with the form and depth to push for real knockout stage results as the group's dark horse. Croatia and Slovakia are locked into a genuine fight for the remaining spots in the top four, where a handful of close sets could decide who advances and who goes home. Sweden, playing at home, will lean on crowd energy to try to steal points off stronger sides, but faces a steep climb given the level of competition around it. Montenegro enters as the clear underdog and tournament debutant, with simply competing at this level standing in as the real accomplishment.

Pool D might be the most lopsided group at the top of the tournament, but that's exactly what makes it worth watching. Gothenburg, a city built on Dutch canals and Scandinavian pop culture history, gets to host the sport's reigning superpower in full stride, and the rest of the group gets the unenviable job of trying to keep up.