The 2026 Women's European Volleyball Championship, commonly referred to as EuroVolley Women 2026, will be the 34th edition of the biannual continental tournament in women's volleyball, organised by Europe's governing volleyball body, CEV. The tournament will be held between from 21 August to 6 September 2026. It will be organised in Azerbaijan, Czech Republic, Sweden and Turkey, marking the fourth consecutive time EuroVolley will be held in four countries, after the multi-country hosting system was first used in 2019. The Turks will host the final.
24 teams will participate for the fourth time as well. Qualification took place in August 2024 and 2025 to decide the final 12 spots. The four co-hosts qualified automatically. Montenegro will make their debut, while Austria and Latvia return after long absences.
After FIVB's calendar changes starting 2025, this will be the first European Championship since 1958 to be held in an even-numbered year.
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] This will be the first European Championship since 1958 to be held in an even-numbered year.
Host selection
Czech Republic[2][3] – Czech Republic was announced as the first co-host on 6 December 2023, with games at a new arena in Brno.[4][5] This will be Czech Republic's third time hosting after 1993 and 1997.
Sweden – On 6 March 2024, Sweden became the second host with games to take place at the Scandinavium in Gothenburg.[6][7][8] This will be Sweden's first time hosting.
Turkey[11] – While widely reported to be a host,[12][13] Turkey was officially announced as the final host on 8 November 2024.[14] This will be Turkey's fourth time organising after 1967, 2003 and 2019.
Rejected countries
The following countries had expressed interest but didn't make the cut:[15]
Austria – Austria was provisionally given the hosting rights, but after an unknown city unexpectedly withdrew and the Austrian federation reluctant to ask their government for more money due to the government after giving money for beach volleyball events, the Austrians asked for a two week extension on making a decision. At this time as well, the Azerbaijani government had offered to host the group. With the choice to give Austria a two week extension or giving the event to Azerbaijan, they chose the latter.[16] Austria's only known possible venue was in Vienna.
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.[17]Austria will return after 55 years, breaking the record for the longest-ever gap for any team between appearances;[18][19] alongside the record, Austria qualified on merit for the first time. Latvia comes back for the first time since 1997.[20][21]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.
The drawing of lots was combined with a seeding of National Federations and performed as follows:
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.
The finalists from the previous edition were drawn in different Preliminary pools, meaning that Turkey could not be paired with Serbia.
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.
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.
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
All times are local.
The top four teams in each pool will qualify for the final round.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
Azerbaijan 
Czech Republic 
Sweden 
Turkey 
