Turkiye triumphed as European champions and booked their spot at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games women’s volleyball event. On Sunday evening, at home in Istanbul, they outlasted reigning Olympic and world champions Italy in the CEV Trendyol EuroVolley 2026 final. Earlier in the day, Serbia beat Poland in the bronze medal game. All four of these teams will also compete at next year’s FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Cup in Canada and the United States – Italy as defending champions, Turkiye, Serbia and Poland as the three best placed teams of the European Championship.
In a rollercoaster gold medal showdown in front of well over 17 thousand fans in the stands of the Sinan Erdem hall in the Turkish megalopolis, the home team came back from a set down twice to celebrate a 3-2 (16-25, 25-22, 12-25, 25-21, 15-10) victory over Italy and defend the historic first European crown they earned in 2023, adding the seventh medal to their EuroVolley collection.
