Men's World Championship 2025

Inspired Finland drops stunning upset of France at Men’s Volleyball World Championship

The Olympic champs come back twice from a set down before yielding in the tie-breaker

Published 01:38, 16 Sept 2025

France (FRA) vs. Finland (FIN) men - Pool C #59338864

Finland outblocked France for a massive upset at the Men’s Volleyball World Championship

Another huge upset made headlines at the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship in the Philippines. In a Pool C game in Quezon City on Tuesday, Finland battled it out for a five-set victory over reigning two-time back-to-back Olympic champions France and stayed well within reach of the eighthfinal spots. They are now third in the pool standings on a 1-1 win-loss record and 3 points, but a straight-set win over fourth-placed Korea in the third leg would guarantee them advancement to the playoffs. Heavy favorites France, on the other hand, are second on 1-1 and 4, but with their backs against the wall to beat Argentina on Thursday.

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Finland, who had a two-set advantage against Argentina in their opening match, but allowed the opponents a complete comeback, this time held their ground against an even stronger opponent. Twice during the course of the game, the number 20 team in the FIVB World Ranking took the lead, but twice the number four team managed to level up to push the match to five. In the tie-breaker, however, the underdogs from the north made another push and celebrated a 3-2 (25-19, 17-25, 29-27, 21-25, 15-9) victory. With the 16.04 ranking points the northern Europeans snatched from the western Europeans’ bucket with this upset, the Finns moved two spots up the chart to number 18.

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Blocking and precision performance were the two components that tilted the outcome of the match Finland’s way. The Finns outblocked the French by 14-10 in stuffs, while making 31 unforced errors against 39 from the opponents. 22-year-old middle blocker Petteri Tyynismaa raised five of Finland’s 14 kill blocks and spiked at a 62% success rate to sign off with a total of 13 points. Opposite Joonas Mikael Jokela led the way with a team-high 20 points, including three aces. 22-year-old outside hitter Luka Marttila added another 15 points towards Finland’s success.

“Obviously, the feeling was amazing! There were a lot of Finnish fans in the arena, so it was even more amazing in front of them, especially when we were playing volleyball like that,” Jokela told VBTV. “We started great against Argentina as well, and I think we did the same thing today. At moments, we played great volleyball, and at moments, not so great. But we got a lot of support from the bench today and I think that turned the game our way.”

Overall, the Olympic champions outspiked Finland by 58-49 in attack points. They also delivered six aces, against five from their rivals. In star opposite Jean Patry, France even had the best scorer of the match, but in the end, they had to yield to the spirited northerners. Patry aced four times and put up two kill blocks towards a match-high 23 points. Outside Yacine Louati added another 17 points, while middle Barthelemy Chinenyeze raised three kill blocks to finish with a total of 12 points.