2026 Women's European Volleyball Championship

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. This will be the first European Championship since 1958 to be held in an even-numbered year. ==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. ==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. Summary of qualified teams ==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've been the first major tournament held in . Overview of venues • In Azerbaijan, the National Gymnastics Arena organised the group. 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 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 has 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. 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==

in Bari hosted the draw.|300px|right 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. 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. Draw results Schedule The schedule was announced on 27 October 2025. ==Preliminary round==

• All times are local. • The top four teams in each pool will qualify 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 B Pool C Pool D ==Final round==

• All times are local. Round of 16 Quarterfinals Semifinals 3rd place match Final ==Final standing==

Tickets Tickets were released on 7 November 2025. Official ticket websites • Official tickets in Azerbaijan • Official tickets in Czech Republic • Official tickets in Sweden • Official tickets in Turkey ==See also==