The 2026 Women's European Volleyball Championship, commonly referred to as EuroVolley Women 2026 (and the CEV Trendyol EuroVolley 2026 for sponsorship reasons), was the 34th edition of the Women's European Volleyball Championship, a biennial international volleyball tournament organised by European Volleyball Confederation (CEV). The tournament took place between from 21 August to 6 September 2026 across Azerbaijan, the Czech Republic, Sweden, and Turkey, marking the fourth consecutive time EuroVolley has been hosted by four countries since the multi-country hosting system was first used in 2019.
For the fourth time in a row, 24 teams participated in the tournament. Qualification took place in August 2024 and 2025 to decide the final 12 spots. The four co-hosts qualified automatically. Montenegro made their debut, while Austria and Latvia returned after long absences.
After FIVB's calendar changes starting 2025, this was the first European Championship since 1958 to be held in an even-numbered year.
The winner qualified for the Volleyball tournament in the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The top three finishers also qualified for the 2027 FIVB Women's Volleyball World Cup in Canada and United States.
Co-hosts Turkey were the defending champions, having beaten Serbia 3–2 in the final three years earlier, and they successfully retained their title after defeating Italy 3–2 in final, which was held in Istanbul. This was the first time since 2011 that a host nation won the trophy on home soil and the first time that Turkey finally won the title on their home soil, losing both 3–0 to Poland in 2003 final and 3–2 to Serbia in 2019 final, where they were either the hosts or co-hosts.
Year change On 22 June 2023, the (FIVB) announced a comprehensive restructuring of the international calendar for the 2025–2028 cycle. As part of this overhaul, continental championships shifted from odd-numbered years to even-numbered years, beginning in 2026. The structural change was implemented to prioritize athlete health and recovery by reducing calendar congestion, as well as to streamline the qualification pathways for major global tournaments such as the FIVB World Cup and the Olympic Games.
Host selection – Czech Republic was announced as the first co-host on 6 December 2023, with games at a new arena in Brno. This will be Czech Republic's third time hosting after 1993 and 1997. – On 6 March 2024, Sweden became the second host with games to take place at the Scandinavium in Gothenburg. This will be Sweden's first time hosting. – On 12 March 2024, Azerbaijan became the third host with one group to be held in the National Gymnastics Arena in Baku. This will be Azerbaijan's second time organising after 2017. – While widely reported to be a host, Turkey was officially announced as the final host on 8 November 2024. According to the Turkish federation, Turkish president, Tayyip Erdoğan, helped get the competition. 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: – 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 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. Austria's only known possible venue was in Vienna. – Finland was briefly mentioned as a possible host in November 2022, but this never materialised.
Preparations Tickets Tickets were released on 7 November 2025.
Official ticket websites
Official tickets in Azerbaijan Official tickets in the Czech Republic Official tickets in Sweden Official tickets in Turkey
Qualification
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 on 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. Austria will return after 55 years, breaking the record for the longest-ever gap for any team between appearances; alongside the record, Austria qualified on merit for the first time. Latvia comes back for the first time since 1997. 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 highest ranked country to not qualify was Switzerland, ranked 33rd, while the lowest ranked team to qualify was Latvia, ranked 65th.
As of 2028, this is the last time Switzerland failed to qualify.
Summary of qualified teams TeamQualification methodDate of qualificationAppearance(s)Previous best performanceWR Top eight in 202319th 1949 20234 15 28th 195123 1 17th 196312 3 31st 194918 8 33rd16 5 32nd 195031 31 20th 195110 10 29th 19493 14 Ninth in 202311th 19935 18 Tenth in 20237th 20034 35 Host nation6th 19673 21 11th 200511 49 Pool C winner4th 20152 19 Pool A winner18th 199118 12 Five best runner-ups28th 19494 28 Pool F winner8th 19854 29 Pool E winner9th 20054 30 Pool D winner1stDebut47 Pool B winner13th 1967 20237 16 Pool G winner16th 199311 40 Five best runner-ups4th 195819711 43 4th199319971 65 20th194920236 26 2nd20191 48
Venues Four venues in four countries will host the tournament. Each venue will host a group, while Istanbul and Brno will organise the knockout stage, with Istanbul hosting the semi-finals and finals. The currently in construction in Brno was supposed to be used for Czech's portion of the tournament, but had to be replaced by the Brno Exhibition Centre due to the arena not being built in time. The Winning Group Arena was also considered as Brno's replacement. This would have been the first major tournament held in Arena Brno.
Overview of venues In Azerbaijan, the National Gymnastics Arena was chosen to host the games. It was constructed in 2009 and has hosted numerous Gymnastics championships, most notably, the 2019 Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships. The venue has also played host to the 2018 World Judo Championships and events at the 2015 European Games and 2017 Islamic Solidarity Games. In Czech Republic, the currently-in-construction Arena Brno was supposed to be hosting the Czech's portion of the tournament, but couldn't host it due to time constraints with its construction. The replacement venue is the venue Brno Exhibition Centre, which recently hosted the 2025 Men's European Volleyball League final four and will have 5,000 temporary seats for the tournament. In Sweden, the Scandinavium was chosen as their venue.The facility has accommodated many prestigious European and world championships in many sports, including: Athletics, Aquatics, Figure Skating, Floorball, Handball, Ice Hockey and Tennis. It also hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 1985. In Turkey, the country's biggest indoor arena, the Sinan Erdem Dome, hosted the Turkish part of the competition. The venue was built in 2010 in preparation for the 2010 FIBA World Championship where, it was the main venue for the tournament, hosting the final phase. The facility was also the main host for EuroBasket 2017. This will be the first major volleyball tournament in this arena.
+Distribution of tournament Istanbul will host preliminary round and knockout stage up to the final. Brno will host preliminary round and knockout stage up to the quarterfinals. Baku and Gothenburg will host preliminary round only
Istanbul Gothenburg Sinan Erdem Dome ScandinaviumCapacity: 16,000 Capacity: 10,000 Baku Brno National Gymnastics Arena Brno Exhibition Centre Capacity: 9,000 Capacity: 5,000
+Tournament venues information Venue Sinan Erdem Dome Pool A, Round of 16, Quarterfinals, Semifinals and Final 25 Brno Exhibition Centre Pool B, Round of 16 and Quarterfinals, 21 National Gymnastics Arena Pool C 15 Scandinavium Pool D 15
Group allocation of hosts As the main organisers, Turkey were seeded into Pool A, As the secondary venue, the Czech Republic were positioned in Pool B As the two countries hosting a single group, Azerbaijan and Sweden are placed into Pool C and D respectively.
Final draw
The final draw took place at 20:45 CET in Bari, Italy on 4 October 2025 at the Castello Normanno-Svevo. Italian journalist, Simona Rolandi and CEV press officer, Federico Ferraro, were the hosts of the final draw. Azerbaijani middle blocker Ayshan Abdulazimova, Czech middle blocker Magdaléna Jehlářová, Swedish outside hitter Anna Haak and Turkish setter Dilay Özdemir were the guests for the final draw. The final draw started with the co-hosts and chosen teams being placed into their respective groups and continued with, in order, pots 1, 2, 3 and 4 being drawn, with each team selected then allocated into the first available group alphabetically.
Chosen teams The organizers could select one team to join their pools. Host team Chosen team
Seeding The teams are seeded according to the CEV National Team rankings before the draw.
The only restriction is that the two finalists from the previous edition, Serbia and Turkey, were drawn in different preliminary pools so that can only play each other in the final phase.
Pot 1Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4
Draw results Pool A in IstanbulPool B in BrnoPool C in BakuPool D in Gothenburg (H) (H) (H) (H)
Schedule The schedule was announced on 27 October 2025. ScheduleRoundMatchdayDatePreliminary roundAll matches 21–28 August 2026Knockout stageRound of 16 30 August – 1 September 2026Quarterfinals 2–3 September 2026Semifinals 5 September 20263rd place & Final 6 September 2026
Squads
Preliminary round All times are local. The top four teams in each pool qualified for the final round. 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
Tiebreakers Number of matches won Match points Sets ratio Points ratio 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.
Pool A
Pool A was played in Istanbul, Turkey from 21 to 28 August 2026.
Pool B
Pool B was played in Brno, Czech Republic from 21 to 27 August 2026.
Pool C
Pool C was played in Baku, Azerbaijan from 21 to 28 August 2026.
Pool D
Pool D was played in Gothenburg, Sweden from 21 to 27 August 2026.
Final round
All times are local.
Round of 16
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
3rd place match
Final
Final standings
Awards
The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:
Most valuable player Melissa Vargas Best setter Alessia Orro Best outside hitters Myriam Sylla Derya Cebecioğlu Best middle blockers Hena Kurtagić Zehra Güneş Best opposite spiker Melissa Vargas Best libero Gizem Örge
Statistics
Top 5 Scorers