2026 Women's European Volleyball Championship

Last updated
2026 Women's European Volleyball Championship
Tournament details
Host nationsFlag of Turkey.svg  Turkey
Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic
Flag of Azerbaijan.svg  Azerbaijan
Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden
Dates21 August – 6 September 2026
Teams24
Venue(s)4 (in 4 host cities)

The 2026 Women's European Volleyball Championship, commonly referred to as EuroVolley Women 2026, will be the 34th edition of the Women's European Volleyball Championship, organised by Europe's governing volleyball body, CEV. For the fourth consecutive time, the EuroVolley will be held in four countries. Turkey are the defending champions.

Contents

Year change

On 22 June 2023, the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) announced that, starting in 2026, all continental competitions would be played in even-numbered years, rather than odd-numbered. [1]

Host selection

Czech Republic was announced as the first co-host on 6 December 2023, with games at a new arena in Brno. [5] [6] On 6 March 2024, Sweden became the second host with games to take place at the Scandinavium in Gothenburg. [7] [8] [9] On 12 March 2024, Azerbaijan became the third host with one group to be held in the National Gymnastics Arena in Baku. [10] [11] Finally, while widely reported to be a host, [12] [13] Turkey was officially announced as the final host on 8 November 2024. [14]

Qualification

Map of qualifiers for the 2026 Women's European Volleyball Championship: .mw-parser-output .legend{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .legend-color{display:inline-block;min-width:1.25em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25;margin:1px 0;text-align:center;border:1px solid black;background-color:transparent;color:black}.mw-parser-output .legend-text{} Team qualified for 2026 Women's European Volleyball Championship Team failed to qualify Team banned from competition Did not enter Map of qualifiers for the 2026 Women's European Volleyball Championship.svg
Map of qualifiers for the 2026 Women's European Volleyball Championship:
  Team qualified for 2026 Women's European Volleyball Championship
  Team failed to qualify
  Team banned from competition
  Did not enter

24 teams qualify for the championship. The four co-hosts and the eight best teams from the 2023 edition automatically progress (in the event that one of the best eight teams is also a co-host, the next best team will inherit their place).

21 teams took part in qualification, with 12 spots on the line. The 21 teams were divided into seven groups of three, with the seven group winners plus the five best second place teams qualifying. The games were played in August 2024 and 2025. The groups were divided by the Serpentine system based off each teams' ranking.

Of the 24 teams who qualified, 20 of them were present at the previous tournament. Montenegro are the only debutants, after winning Group D. [15] Austria will return after 55 years, breaking the record for the longest-ever gap for any team between appearances; [16] [17] alongside the record, Austria qualified on merit for the first time. Latvia comes back for the first time since 1997. [18] [19] Portugal advanced for the first time after their debut in 2019.

Of the non-qualifiers, Finland and Switzerland both missed out in Group A, with the two taking part in the three previous editions. Bosnia and Herzegovina didn't qualify after withdrawing from the first half of qualification, causing controversy in the country. 2023 co-hosts, Estonia, failed to qualify as well.

Means of qualificationQualifierMeans of qualificationQualifier
Host CountriesFlag of Azerbaijan.svg  Azerbaijan Qualification Pool A Flag of Germany.svg  Germany
Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic Pool B Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium
Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden Pool C Flag of Slovenia.svg  Slovenia
Flag of Turkey.svg  Turkey Pool D Flag of Montenegro.svg  Montenegro
2023 European Championship Flag of Serbia.svg  Serbia Pool E Flag of Spain.svg  Spain
Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands Pool F Flag of Greece.svg  Greece
Flag of Italy.svg  Italy Pool G Flag of Croatia.svg  Croatia
Flag of Poland.svg  Poland Best runners-up Flag of Romania.svg  Romania
Flag of France.svg  France Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary
Flag of Bulgaria.svg  Bulgaria Flag of Portugal (official).svg  Portugal
Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine Flag of Latvia.svg  Latvia
Flag of Slovakia.svg  Slovakia Flag of Austria.svg  Austria
Total 24

Summary of qualified teams

TeamQualification methodDate of qualificationAppearance(s)Previous best performance WR
TotalFirstLastStreak
Flag of France.svg  France Top eight in 2023 26 August 202319th 1949 2023 4Fourth place (1951)TBD
Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 28th 1951 23Champions (2007, 2009, 2021)TBD
Flag of Turkey.svg  Turkey [a] 27 August 202317th 1963 12Champions (2023)TBD
Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 31st 1949 18Champions (1995)TBD
Flag of Poland.svg  Poland 33rd16Champions (2003, 2005)TBD
Flag of Bulgaria.svg  Bulgaria 32nd 1950 31Champions (1981)TBD
Flag of Serbia.svg  Serbia 28 August 202310th 2007 10Champions (2011, 2017, 2019)TBD
Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic [b] 13th 1995 3Third place (1997)TBD
Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine Ninth in 2023 26 September 202311th 1993 5Third place (1993)TBD
Flag of Slovakia.svg  Slovakia Tenth in 2023 6 December 20237th 2003 4Twelfth place (2003, 2019)TBD
Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden Host nation6 March 20246th 1967 3Eighth place (2021)TBD
Flag of Azerbaijan.svg  Azerbaijan 12 March 202411th 2005 11Fourth place (2005, 2017)TBD
Flag of Slovenia.svg  Slovenia Pool C winner 2 August 20254th 2015 2Round of 16 (2019)TBD
Flag of Germany.svg  Germany Pool A winner 6 August 202518th 1991 18Runners-up (2011, 2013)TBD
Flag of Romania.svg  Romania Five best runner-ups 28th 1949 4Third place (1963)TBD
Flag of Greece.svg  Greece Pool F winner 8th 1985 4Eighth place (1991)TBD
Flag of Spain.svg  Spain Pool E winner 9th 2005 4Ninth place (2009)TBD
Flag of Montenegro.svg  Montenegro Pool D winner 1stDebutTBD
Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium Pool B winner 13th 1967 2023 7Third place (2013)TBD
Flag of Croatia.svg  Croatia Pool G winner 9 August 202516th 1993 11Runners-up (1995, 1997, 1999)TBD
Flag of Austria.svg  Austria Five best runner-ups 10 August 20254th 1958 1971 1Twelfth place (1958, 1963)TBD
Flag of Latvia.svg  Latvia 4th 1993 1997 1Eighth place (1997)TBD
Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 20th 1949 2023 6Runners-up (1975)TBD
Flag of Portugal (official).svg  Portugal 2nd 2019 124th place (2019)TBD

Pools composition

The drawing of lots was combined with a seeding of National Federations and performed as follows:

  1. The four organizers were seeded in Preliminary pools. Turkey in Pool A, Czech Republic in Pool B, Azerbaijan in Pool C and Sweden in Pool D.
  2. The finalists from the previous edition were drawn in different Preliminary pools, meaning that Turkey could not be paired with Serbia.
  3. The organizers could select one team to join their pools, as a result, Latvia joined Turkey in Pool A, Austria joined Czech Republic in Pool B, Portugal joined Azerbaijan in Pool C and Montenegro joined Sweden in Pool D.
  4. According to the CEV National Team ranking list, the 16 remaining teams were seeded by descending order in a number of cups that equals the number of Preliminary pools.
Pot 1Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4
Flag of Serbia.svg  Serbia
Flag of Italy.svg  Italy
Flag of Poland.svg  Poland
Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 		Flag of France.svg  France
Flag of Germany.svg  Germany
Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine
Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium 		Flag of Romania.svg  Romania
Flag of Bulgaria.svg  Bulgaria
Flag of Slovenia.svg  Slovenia
Flag of Slovakia.svg  Slovakia 		Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary
Flag of Greece.svg  Greece
Flag of Spain.svg  Spain
Flag of Croatia.svg  Croatia
Draw

The drawing of lots was held on 4 October 2025 in Bari, Italy. [20]

CEV EuroVolley 2026 – Drawing of Lots
YouTube 2024.svg
Nuvola apps kaboodle.svg Drawing of Lots Live Streaming
Pool APool BPool CPool D
Flag of Turkey.svg  Turkey Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic Flag of Azerbaijan.svg  Azerbaijan Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden
Flag of Latvia.svg  Latvia Flag of Austria.svg  Austria Flag of Portugal (official).svg  Portugal Flag of Montenegro.svg  Montenegro
Flag of Poland.svg  Poland Flag of Serbia.svg  Serbia Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands Flag of Italy.svg  Italy
Flag of Germany.svg  Germany Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium Flag of France.svg  France
Flag of Slovenia.svg  Slovenia Flag of Bulgaria.svg  Bulgaria Flag of Romania.svg  Romania Flag of Slovakia.svg  Slovakia
Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary Flag of Greece.svg  Greece Flag of Spain.svg  Spain Flag of Croatia.svg  Croatia

Venues

Each venue will host a group, while Istanbul and Brno will organise the knockout stage, with Istanbul hosting the semi-finals and finals.

Flag of Turkey.svg Istanbul
(Pool A and all knockout rounds)
class=notpageimage|
Locations of the host cities of the CEV EuroVolley W 2026
 Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Brno
(Pool B, Round of 16 and Quarterfinals)
Sinan Erdem Dome
Capacity: 16,000		Arena Brno
Capacity: 13,300
Sinan Erdem Dome 20250201.jpg
Flag of Azerbaijan.svg Baku
(Pool C)		Flag of Sweden.svg Gothenburg
(Pool D)
National Gymnastics Arena
Capacity: 9,000		 Scandinavium
Capacity: 10,000
Milli Gimnastika Arenasi 1 (cropped).JPG Scandinavium (SWE) 2009.jpg

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 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, 3 and 4 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

Preliminary round

Pool A

PosTeamPldWLPtsSWSLSRSPWSPLSPRQualification
1Flag of Turkey.svg  Turkey (H)000000—00— Final round
2Flag of Latvia.svg  Latvia 000000—00—
3Flag of Poland.svg  Poland 000000—00—
4Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 000000—00—
5Flag of Slovenia.svg  Slovenia 000000—00—
6Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 000000—00—
Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: [ citation needed ]
(H) Host
DateTimeScoreSet 1Set 2Set 3Set 4Set 5TotalReport
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 

Pool B

PosTeamPldWLPtsSWSLSRSPWSPLSPRQualification
1Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic (H)000000—00— Final round
2Flag of Austria.svg  Austria 000000—00—
3Flag of Serbia.svg  Serbia 000000—00—
4Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine 000000—00—
5Flag of Bulgaria.svg  Bulgaria 000000—00—
6Flag of Greece.svg  Greece 000000—00—
Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: [ citation needed ]
(H) Host
DateTimeScoreSet 1Set 2Set 3Set 4Set 5TotalReport
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 

Pool C

PosTeamPldWLPtsSWSLSRSPWSPLSPRQualification
1Flag of Azerbaijan.svg  Azerbaijan (H)000000—00— Final round
2Flag of Portugal (official).svg  Portugal 000000—00—
3Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 000000—00—
4Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium 000000—00—
5Flag of Romania.svg  Romania 000000—00—
6Flag of Spain.svg  Spain 000000—00—
Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: [ citation needed ]
(H) Host
DateTimeScoreSet 1Set 2Set 3Set 4Set 5TotalReport
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 

Pool D

PosTeamPldWLPtsSWSLSRSPWSPLSPRQualification
1Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden (H)000000—00— Final round
2Flag of Montenegro.svg  Montenegro 000000—00—
3Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 000000—00—
4Flag of France.svg  France 000000—00—
5Flag of Slovakia.svg  Slovakia 000000—00—
6Flag of Croatia.svg  Croatia 000000—00—
Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: [ citation needed ]
(H) Host
DateTimeScoreSet 1Set 2Set 3Set 4Set 5TotalReport
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 
   – –––  0–0 

Final standing

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Turkey also belatedly qualified as a 2026 host nation.
  2. ↑ Czech Republic also belatedly qualified as a 2026 host nation.

References

  1. ↑ "Volleyball Calendar 2025-2028 Approved By The FIVB Board Of Administration". FIVB. 22 June 2023. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  2. ↑ "Český volejbal se přihlásil o pořadatelství evropského šampionátu žen 2026". Český Volejbal (in Czech). Czech Volleyball Federation. 22 November 2023.
  3. ↑ "Ανανέωσε με την Τσεχία ο Αθανασόπουλος". ERT Sports (in Greek). 22 November 2023.
  4. ↑ "Türkiye Set to Host the 2026 CEV Women's European Volleyball Championship Finals". FTN News. 26 September 2023.
  5. ↑ "Brno, Czechia to host CEV EuroVolley 2026 Women up to quarterfinals!". CEV. 6 December 2023.
  6. ↑ "Český volejbal uspěl se svojí kandidaturou!". Český Volejbal (in Czech). Czech Volleyball Federation. 6 December 2023.
  7. ↑ "Sweden poised to co-host CEV EuroVolley 2026 Women!". CEV. 6 March 2024.
  8. ↑ "Volleyboll-EM 2026 till Sverige – Göteborg blir värdstad". Svensk Volleyboll. 6 March 2024.
  9. ↑ "Volleyboll: Sverige klart som arrangör för damernas volleyboll-EM 2026". SVT Sport. 6 March 2024.
  10. ↑ "CEV EuroVolley Women returns to Azerbaijan!". CEV. 6 March 2024.
  11. ↑ "2026-cı ildə voleybol üzrə Avropa çempionatı Azərbaycanda keçiriləcək". Report İnformasiya Agentliyi. 12 March 2024.
  12. ↑ "Türkiye to host 2026 CEV Women's European Volleyball finals". TRT World. 26 September 2023. Retrieved 2 July 2024.
  13. ↑ "Avrupa Şampiyonası, 2026'da Türkiye'de yapılacak". Gazete Duvar. 26 September 2023. Retrieved 2 July 2024.
  14. ↑ "Türkiye to host CEV EuroVolley 2026 Finals!". CEV. 8 December 2024. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
  15. ↑ "Odbojkašice na Evropskom prvenstvu!".
  16. ↑ "Historisch! Österreichs Volleyball-Damen lösen erstmals über Qualifikation das EM-Ticket!". August 10, 2025.
  17. ↑ "Historischer Sonntag für ÖVV-Damen – Stimmen zum EM-Traum". August 11, 2025.
  18. ↑ "'Tas ir neticami!' Latvijas sieviešu volejbola izlase pēc 28 gadiem kvalificējas Eiropas čempionāta finālturnīram". LA.LV.
  19. ↑ ""Tas ir milzīgs panākums" – ticība ļāva Latvijas volejbolistēm sasniegt finālturnīru". www.delfi.lv.
  20. ↑ Ferraro, Federico (2 October 2025). "EuroVolley 2026 DOL coming up this Saturday, tickets to go on sale November 7!". CEV . Retrieved 4 October 2025.
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