VNL 2026

VNL 2026 ready to climax with Brazil against Turkiye in gold medal showdown

Italy and China to open Sunday’s competition with a battle for the bronze

Published 03:49, 25 Jul 2026

Brazil (BRA) vs. Türkiye (TUR) women - Bronze Medal Match #19305837

Brazil against Turkiye in the Paris 2024 Olympic bronze medal match

The women’s Volleyball Nations League Finals in Macao are set to peak on Sunday, when the 2026 champions will emerge and all the podium spots will be distributed. First, hosts China will challenge mighty Italy in the bronze medal match. Then, Turkiye and Brazil will lock horns in the gold medal showdown.

Watch the Volleyball Nations League 2026 on VBTV

The grand finale of the women’s VNL 2026 in Macao, between Brazil and Turkiye, is set to serve off at 19:30 local time (11:30 UTC) on Sunday. It will be a battle between the number two and the number three teams in the FIVB World Ranking, a remake of the Paris 2024 Olympic bronze medal game.

Turkiye qualified for the Finals in Macao as the fourth-placed team in the final Preliminary Phase standings, on a 9-3 win-loss record and 25 points. They moved on to the semifinals after a 3-1 comeback win over Canada in one of Thursday’s quarterfinals and then shut out hosts China in Saturday’s semifinals to progress to their third VNL final. Turkiye won the VNL in 2023. They also have one silver (2018) and one bronze (2021) in their VNL showcase. However, in the last two seasons, they failed to make the semifinals, after tie-breaker losses of their quarterfinal games. Turkiye are also silver medalists of last year’s FIVB World Championship and semifinalists of the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Brazil, on the other hand, are still looking for their first VNL title. They have already collected four VNL medals, all silver, finishing runners-up in 2019, 2021, 2022 and 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, and in Saturday’s semifinals, they persevered through a five-set battle to dethrone the champions of the previous two seasons, reigning world and Olympic champions and the world’s number one Italy to book a spot in the gold medal showdown.

When they met in the Olympic bronze medal game in Paris two years ago, Brazil beat Turkiye in four sets. They repeated that result in VNL 2025, which was the most recent encounter between the two teams and extended the South Americans’ winning streak in the head-to-head series to three matches in a row. Turkiye’s last win over Brazil was a straight-set affair and dates back to an Olympic qualification game in 2023. Brazil and Turkiye have met a total of 19 times at major world-level tournaments. The South Americans have won 14 of those encounters.

Sunday’s bronze medal game between hosts China and Italy at the East Asian Games Dome on Sunday will get underway four hours earlier, at 15:30 local time (07:30 UTC).

China qualified for the Finals in Macao 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 beat them in the tie-breaker to return among the semifinalists for the first time in three years. In the semifinals, China were defeated by Turkiye in straight sets. 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.

Italy are reigning Olympic and world champions, as well as number one in the FIVB World Ranking, and they are still reigning two-time back-to-back VNL champions, but their quest for a fourth crown in the competition was interrupted in Saturday’s semifinals with a five-set loss to Brazil. The European team arrived at the Finals in Macao as the second-placed team in the Preliminary Phase table on 10-2 and 28. 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 the semis and secure their spot in one of Sunday’s matches. For the first time, Italy will play in the bronze medal game. The previous three times they made it to the last four, they always claimed the title.

China and Italy have met 53 times at major world-level tournaments, with Italy leading the head-to-head series by 27-26 in wins. The European team is on a seven-game winning streak against this Asian opponent. When they met in the VNL Preliminary Phase earlier this season, in Hong Kong on July 12, Italy squeezed out a five-set victory. China’s last win over Italy in official competition dates back to VNL 2022.