Soviet domination was ceased in 1989 when Italy under leadership of Argentinian coach Julio Velasco unprecedentally won their first ever official tournament.

Soviet team surprisingly failed to even reach podium after losing to Sweden (hosts) in semifinals and to Netherlands in a bronze-medal match.

However, in 1991, in their last participation at the competition, Soviet Union won European title for the 12th time after 3–0 victories over a Netherlands in semifinals and Italy in the final match.

Vyacheslav Platonov won European title as head coach for the record sixth time.

FR Yugoslavia who won Olympic gold in 2000 also became European Champion for the first time at the next-year tournament.

After victory in 2005, the period of Italy's dominance came to end, and more national teams won their maiden European titles.

In the final match held in Katowice, Italy defeated Slovenia in a 5th-set tie-breaker and won their seventh European title – the first in 16 years.

Next year Italy achieved another success in Katowice by defeating Poland at the opponent's home ground in the final match of the 2022 World Championship.

However, next year Poland took revenge by beating Italy 3–0 in a final match of the 2023 European Championship which was held in Rome.