VNL 2026

Big semifinal clashes on Saturday to determine VNL 2026 finalists for Sunday’s showdown

Italy meet Brazil, China take on Turkiye

Published 07:30, 24 Jul 2026

Türkiye (TUR) vs. China (CHN) - Pool 4 - Preliminary Phase #108630211

Turkiye and China already met once in VNL 2026, in a five-set rollercoaster in Ankara on June 21

Saturday is semifinals day at the women’s Volleyball Nations League Finals in Macao. The first duel for a spot in Sunday’s gold medal showdown features the teams of Italy and Brazil. Then, the home team China will challenge Turkiye in the second.

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Semifinal action serves off at 16:00 local time (08:00 UTC) with the game between Italy and Brazil, the number one and number two teams in the FIVB World Ranking, respectively.

Italy are defending two-time back-to-back VNL champions, and the reigning Olympic and world champions. They are aiming at their fourth crown in the competition. The European team arrived at the Finals in Macao as the second-placed team in the final Preliminary Phase standings on a 10-2 win-loss record and 28 points, just one short of leaders USA. They lived up to their status as favorites in Wednesday’s quarterfinal against the Netherlands and took out the opponents in straight sets to advance to Saturday’s semifinals.

Brazil have already collected three VNL medals, all silver, including one in 2025. They are also bronze medalists of the last Olympic Games and the last FIVB World Championship. The South Americans finished this year’s Preliminary Phase in third place on 9-3 and 26. In their quarterfinal match in Macao on Wednesday, they came back from a set down to knock out Japan with a four-set win.

The VNL head-to-head record between Brazil and Italy stands at 5-5 in wins. They met once earlier in this year’s edition. In a Preliminary Phase game on June 7 at home in Brasilia, the South Americans put together a five-set victory, thus interrupting the longest undefeated run ever registered in international volleyball – the 39 consecutive victories piled up by Italy over a period of just over two years. That run included three wins over Brazil as well, the last one of which came in another five-set battle in a 2025 World Championship semifinal. In fact, tie-breakers resolved as many as five of the eight most recent head-to-head encounters between Brazil and Italy.

Saturday’s second semifinal, featuring Turkiye and China, starts at 19:30 local time (11:30 UTC).

After the end of the quarterfinal round, Turkiye moved up from number four to number three in the FIVB World Ranking, overtaking the United States. They qualified for the Finals in Macao as the fourth-placed team in the Preliminary Phase table, on 9-3 and 25, and moved on to the semifinals after a 3-1 comeback win over Canada in one of Thursday’s quarterfinals. Turkiye won the VNL in 2023. They also have one silver and one bronze in their VNL showcase. They have played in five semifinals in the seven previous VNL editions and return to this stage of the competition after a two-year absence. Turkiye are also silver medalists of last year’s World Championship and semifinalists of the Paris 2024 Olympics.

China qualified for the Finals automatically as the host team. They took ninth place in the first stage on 6-6 and 19. In Thursday’s quarterfinals, the home team engaged in a five-set rollercoaster battle with Preliminary Phase winners USA and defeated them in the tie-breaker. They are also back among the semifinalists for the first time in three years. The Asian team has picked up three VNL medals in history – two bronzes and, most recently, a silver in 2023. They are running seventh in the World Ranking and have a shot at surpassing sixth-ranked Japan on Saturday, if they claim a 3-0 or a 3-1 win over Turkiye.

Turkiye and China have previously had 10 VNL encounters, with the European side leading that head-to-head series by 6-4 in wins. They edged ahead by winning the two most recent matches with China in VNL 2025 and in VNL 2026, both resolved after five-set battles. Turkiye also beat China by 3-2 in a Paris 2024 Olympic quarterfinal. The Asian team’s most recent win over Turkiye came just before that, in VNL 2024, also in five sets. In fact, all of the four most recent encounters between these teams were decided in tie-breakers.