Despite their high effort, Italy came away empty-handed from their opening match of the European Championship.

Italy loses to the world champions in their opening European Championship match

Italy's opening match at the Fistball European Championship ended in defeat: The Squadra Azzurra ultimately lost 0-3 against the reigning world and European champions, Germany. Despite the clear result, the young Italian team displayed a courageous performance for much of the match.

August 12, 2026

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Germany dominated from the outset, giving the Italian team few opportunities. However, the Azzurri skillfully capitalized on these limited chances, keeping the match competitive for much of the time. Ultimately, though, Italy failed to secure a set win – the defending champions and world champions prevailed in all three sets.

Coach Runer: Good start despite defeat

Despite the defeat, coach Florian Runer believes the positive aspects of the opening match outweigh the negative: "Although we didn't win a set, it was a successful start to the European Championship. All players got playing time and were able to participate in the European Championship."

Setter Philipp Deutsch also draws a satisfied conclusion: "This was the expected tough start against the world champions. Despite the defeat, we are very satisfied with our performance, but of course we wanted to improve further tomorrow against Austria and Switzerland."

Looking ahead: Double burden against Switzerland and Austria

The Squadra Azzurra will have little time to catch their breath: Florian Runer and Jörg Ramel's team already have two more matches scheduled for tomorrow. At 10 a.m., Italy will face Switzerland. At 16 p.m., they will face Austria in another tough test.