2026 Men's European Volleyball Championship qualification

This article describes the qualification for the 2026 Men's European Volleyball Championship. ^[1]

Qualification

Bulgaria, Finland, Italy and Romania as host countries were directly qualified. The eight best placed teams at the 2023 edition also gained direct entries into the tournament. 21 teams compete for the remaining 12 places at the final tournament.

Means of qualification	Qualifier	Means of qualification		Qualifier
Host Countries	Bulgaria	Qualification	Pool A
	Finland		Pool B
	Italy		Pool C
	Romania		Pool D
2023 European Championship
	Poland		Pool E
	Slovenia		Pool F
	France		Pool G
	Netherlands		Best runners-up
	Serbia
	Ukraine
	Germany
	Portugal
Total 24

Direct qualification

All of the hosted countries' teams directly qualified for the tournament. Then, the top eight teams from previous edition also automatically qualified.

• 2023 Men's European Volleyball Championship final standing

	Qualified for the 2026 European Championship
	Qualified as hosts for the 2026 European Championship

Rank	Team
	Poland
	Italy
	Slovenia
4	France
5	Netherlands
6	Serbia
7	Romania
8	Ukraine
9	Germany
10	Portugal
11	Croatia
12	Czech Republic
13	Turkey
14	Belgium
15	Bulgaria
16	North Macedonia
17	Spain
18	Israel
19	Montenegro
20	Estonia
21	Finland
22	Greece
23	Switzerland
24	Denmark

Format

There being seven pools of either three teams each, the winners of each pool and the 5 best runners-up qualified for the 2026 European Championship. The pools were played in a double round-robin.

Schedule

Original schedule [1]
Round	Round date
Matchday 1	17/18 August 2024
Matchday 2	24/25 August 2024
Matchday 3	31 August–1 September 2024
Matchday 4	14/15 June 2025
Matchday 5	21/22 June 2025
Matchday 6	28/29 June 2025

The dates were updated to adapt to the new FIVB calendar.

Round	Round date [1] [2]
Matchday 1	17/18 August 2024
Matchday 2	24/25 August 2024
Matchday 3	28/29 August 2024
Matchday 4	9/10 August 2025
Matchday 5	13 August 2025
Matchday 6	16/17 August 2025

Pools composition

The pools were set following the Serpentine system according to their European Ranking for national teams as of 6 November 2023. Rankings are shown in brackets. ^[1]

Pool A	Pool B	Pool C	Pool D	Pool E	Pool F	Pool G
Turkey (8)	Belgium (11)	Czech Republic (13)	Croatia (16)	Spain (17)	Greece (18)	Slovakia (19)
Denmark (27)	Azerbaijan (26)	Montenegro (24)	Estonia (23)	Switzerland (22)	North Macedonia (21)	Latvia (20)
Hungary (28)	Austria (29)	Norway (31)	Israel (34)	Sweden (35)	Georgia (37)	Kosovo (NR)

Pool standing procedure

1. Number of matches won
2. Match points
3. Sets ratio
4. Points ratio
5. If the tie continues as per the point ratio between two teams, the priority will be given to the team which won the last match between them. When the tie in points ratio is between three or more teams, a new classification of these teams in the terms of points 1, 2 and 3 will be made taking into consideration only the matches in which they were opposed to each other.

Match won 3–0 or 3–1: 3 match points for the winner, 0 match points for the loser
Match won 3–2: 2 match points for the winner, 1 match point for the loser

Results

• The winners in each pool and the top five of the second ranked teams qualified for the 2026 European Championship.

Pool A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	Pts	SW	SL	SR	SPW	SPL	SPR	Qualification
1	Turkey	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—	2026 European Championship
2	Denmark	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—	2026 European Championship if one of five best second-ranked team
3	Hungary	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—

Source: ^{[ citation needed ]}

Pool B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	Pts	SW	SL	SR	SPW	SPL	SPR	Qualification
1	Belgium	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—	2026 European Championship
2	Azerbaijan	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—	2026 European Championship if one of five best second-ranked team
3	Austria	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—

Source: ^{[ citation needed ]}

Pool C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	Pts	SW	SL	SR	SPW	SPL	SPR	Qualification
1	Czech Republic	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—	2026 European Championship
2	Montenegro	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—	2026 European Championship if one of five best second-ranked team
3	Norway	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—

Source: ^{[ citation needed ]}

Pool D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	Pts	SW	SL	SR	SPW	SPL	SPR	Qualification
1	Croatia	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—	2026 European Championship
2	Estonia	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—	2026 European Championship if one of five best second-ranked team
3	Israel	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—

Source: ^{[ citation needed ]}

Pool E

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	Pts	SW	SL	SR	SPW	SPL	SPR	Qualification
1	Spain	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—	2026 European Championship
2	Switzerland	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—	2026 European Championship if one of five best second-ranked team
3	Sweden	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—

Source: ^{[ citation needed ]}

Pool F

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	Pts	SW	SL	SR	SPW	SPL	SPR	Qualification
1	Greece	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—	2026 European Championship
2	North Macedonia	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—	2026 European Championship if one of five best second-ranked team
3	Georgia	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—

Source: ^{[ citation needed ]}

Pool G

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	Pts	SW	SL	SR	SPW	SPL	SPR	Qualification
1	Slovakia	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—	2026 European Championship
2	Latvia	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—	2026 European Championship if one of five best second-ranked team
3	Kosovo	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—

Source: ^{[ citation needed ]}

Ranking of the second placed teams

• Matches against the fourth placed team in each pool were not included in this ranking.
• The top five of the second placed teams qualified for the 2026 European Championship.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	Pts	SW	SL	SR	SPW	SPL	SPR	Qualification
1	Team 1	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—	2026 European Championship
2	Team 2	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—
3	Team 3	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—
4	Team 4	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—
5	Team 5	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—
6	Team 6	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—
7	Team 7	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—

Source: ^{[ citation needed ]}

See also

• 2026 Women's European Volleyball Championship qualification

References

1. https://inside.cev.eu/media/qjobjw13/web_ev2026-commun.pdf
2. "Volleyball players against the Czech Republic and Norway for Eurovolley, volleyball players from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Latvia".

External links

• Official website