Europeans shine on Saturday and book their tickets to the VNL Finals

Europe had a lot to celebrate on Saturday, the penultimate day of the Volleyball Nations League (VNL) 2026 Preliminary Phase, as three national teams from the continent secured spots in the tournament's Finals, which will be held from July 29 to August 2 in Macao.

Defending champions Poland, Slovenia and world champions Italy have all obtained the results they needed and are set to join hosts China and Japan and the United States, which had previously qualified, in the Finals. Two spots are still up for grabs.

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With each of the 18 national teams competing in the VNL 2026 having already completed 11 of their 12 Preliminary Phase matches, Japan (11 wins, 27 points), Poland (nine wins, 26 points), Slovenia (nine wins, 23 points), the United States (eight wins, 25 points) and Italy (seven wins, 23 points) are all guaranted to end inside the top seven of the VNL 2026 standings and join China in the Finals.

The European presence in the Finals is set to increase on Sunday, as the two remaining berths will be contested by Bulgaria (seven wins, 20 points), Türkiye (seven wins, 19 points) and Ukraine (six wins, 20 points) in the last day of the Preliminary Phase.

Playing in Chicago this week, Poland needed to win only one set against Olympic champions France on Saturday to qualify, but they went beyond and took the match 3-1 (17-25, 25-22, 25-21, 25-18) after dropping the first set.

Opposite Bartlomiej Bołądź topped all scorers in the Polish victory with 18 points (14 kills, four blocks). Outside hitters Wilfredo León and Kamil Semeniuk scored 13 each and also had significant roles in their comeback.

A few hours earlier, Slovenia confirmed their qualification and denied Türkiye's by prevailing 3-1 (25-22, 20-25, 25-21, 25-23) in the all-European match held in Belgrade.

Opposite Nik Mujanović was huge in their victory, leaving the court with 27 points (23 kills, four aces) to his name. Turkish opposite Adis Lagumdzija matched his production with 25 kills, one block and one ace.

World champions Italy had the smoothest path to qualify among the three European teams, earning their spot in the Finals with a solid 3-0 (25-22, 25-22, 25-22) win over Argentina in Osaka.

Star opposite Yuri Romanò was Italy's most productive player on the court with 15 points (13 kills, one block, one ace), but the match was also memorable for team captain and setter Simone Giannelli, who added seven points (four kills, three blocks) and surpassed the mark of 100 blocks in his VNL career, now accumulating 102.

Bulgaria one step closer to qualifying

In Chicago, Bulgaria significantly improved their chances of competing in the Finals after they took down hosts the United States 3-1 (27-25, 22-25, 26-24, 25-18) and moved into the qualification zone.

Star outside hitter Aleksandar Nikolov had a monster performance, delivering a season-high 32 points (27 kills, three aces, two blocks) to take the Bulgarians past the Americans in a heated match. He also registered his 50th VNL career ace in the encounter.

In Belgrade, hosts Serbia saw their dream of qualifying for the Finals come to an end. They faced continental rivals Germany, who were already out of contention, and suffered a reverse sweep, going down 3-2 (21-25, 26-28, 25-16, 25-18, 15-13) and no longer have a chance to advance.

German outside hitter Erik Röhrs scored 22 points (19 kills, three aces) and was the top scorer of the match, which had two other German players - middle blocker Anton Brehme and outside hitter Tobias Brand - and one Serbian - outside hitter Veljko Mašulović - scoring 20.

In Osaka, Cuba confirmed their permanence in the VNL 2027 with a 3-0 (25-22, 25-21, 29-27) victory over Canada. Outside hitters Miguel Ángel López (16) and Marlon Yant (14) combined to produce 30 points for the Cubans.

Sunday's schedule

The last day of the VNL 2026 Preliminary Phase, Sunday will have a full schedule of nine matches, with three taking place in each host city. Osaka goes first, with Belgium and Canada starting the day at 12:00 local time (3:00 GMT), Cuba and Italy following at 15:30 (6:30 GMT) and Japan and Argentina ending the day at 19:20 (10:20 GMT).

In Belgrade, Türkiye and Iran face off at 13:00 local time (11:00 GMT), Ukraine and Germany duel at 16:30 (14:30 GMT) and Serbia and Slovenia meet at 20:00 (18:00 GMT).

Chicago will have China and Brazil playing at 12:00 local time (17:00 GMT), Bulgaria and France battling at 16:00 (21:00 GMT) and the United States and Poland ending things at 20:00 (3:00 GMT, Monday).

VNL 2026 schedule and results
VNL 2026 ticket information

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