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Women's European Volleyball Championship
History of the Tournament
Founded in 1949, the tournament was initially held annually for its first three years; since 1975, however, it has been staged every two years. The number of competitors has grown steadily over time, from as few as six in the early editions to twenty-four countries since 2019.
Co-hosting first appeared in 2007 and became a regular feature from 2011, with the 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017 editions each shared between two nations. The tournament then expanded the concept further, and the past four editions have all been shared across four host countries.
2028 Preview
The 2028 EuroVolley Women will be the 35th edition of the continental tournament. Following the FIVB's decision that all continental competitions are staged in even-numbered years, the championship continues on its two-year cycle after Turkey's home triumph in 2026. Slovakia and Spain have been confirmed as co-hosts, with the remaining host nations still to be announced by the CEV.
Twenty-four teams are expected to contest the title once again, with the co-hosts qualifying automatically. Qualification ran through the revamped 2026 European Volleyball League for the first time, with the top four sides progressing to join co-host Slovakia and Spain, who have already secured their places.
Turkey arrive as defending champions, having successfully retained... no — having won back-to-back is not the case here. Turkey won their second title in 2026, beating Italy 3-2 in the final in Istanbul to become the first host nation to lift the trophy on home soil since 2011. With talisman Melissa Vargas named tournament MVP, they will be among the favourites to go again.
Serbia remain one of the most reliable performers on this stage, having reached the final in four of the last five editions before settling for bronze in 2026. Winners in both 2017 and 2019, they have now gone three tournaments without a title and will again be strongly fancied to challenge, alongside a 2026 runner-up Italy side that pushed Turkey all the way.
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Women's European Volleyball Championship Groups
The Groups
The 24 teams have been split into four pools of six, each hosted in one of the four co-host cities. The top four from every group progress to the Round of 16, meaning only the bottom two in each pool are eliminated — a format that gives the stronger sides room to find their feet.
Schedule
The schedule will be known much closer to the tournament taking place.
| Round | Stage | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Preliminary round | All matches | TBC |
| Knockout stage | Round of 16 | TBC |
| Quarter-finals | TBC | |
| Semi-finals | TBC | |
| 3rd place & Final | TBC |
Women's European Volleyball Championship Betting Tips
The OLBG volleyball tipsters will be making their Women's European Volleyball Championship predictions throughout the tournament, and these will be found on our Volleyball Predictions page. Each match that is scheduled will be listed there along with the most predicted outcome for each game.
Alternatively, head over to the Best Volleyball Tipsters to find tips from tipsters who have made a volleyball profit over the past year; these are the only tipsters who are shown on this page.
Favourite Statistics
When you compare this tournament to the World Cup (86%) and the World Championships (82%), this tournament is on par with a success rate of 84%. If you are looking to take on favourites, then pick wisely, as there is not really a range of odds that do not perform well.
- 2017: 29-36 (80.56%)
- 2019: 65-76 (85.53%)
- 2021: 64-76 (84.21%)
- 2023: 65-75 (86.67%)
- 2026: 63-76 (82.89%)
- Overall: 286-339 (84.37%)
Set Score Statistics
Given the favourite statistics above, it is no surprise that just over half of all matches are settled in straight sets — combining 3-0 and 0-3 results gives 51% finishing in three. The average across 340 games is 3.67 sets per match. Only 19% (63 games) went the full five sets, while 30% were decided in four.
- 3-0: 110 Games (32.35%)
- 0-3: 64 Games (18.82%)
- 1-3: 53 Games (15.59%)
- 3-1: 50 Games (14.71%)
- 3-2: 38 Games (11.18%)
- 2-3: 25 Games (7.35%)
Women's European Volleyball Championship Past Winners
This tournament rewards the established powers. Just four nations have won gold across the last ten editions — Italy, Russia, Serbia and Turkey — and every one of them has successfully defended it: Italy (2007 & 2009), Russia (2013 & 2015), Serbia (2017 & 2019) and Turkey (2023 & 2026). The finals are rarely close, either: only three of the last ten went to a deciding fifth set, while three ended in 3–0 whitewashes.
| Season | Champions | Score | Runners-Up |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Turkey | 3–2 | Italy |
| 2023 | Turkey | 3–2 | Serbia |
| 2021 | Italy | 3–1 | Serbia |
| 2019 | Serbia | 3–2 | Turkey |
| 2017 | Serbia | 3–1 | Netherlands |
| 2015 | Russia | 3–0 | Netherlands |
| 2013 | Russia | 3–1 | Germany |
| 2011 | Serbia | 3–2 | Germany |
| 2009 | Italy | 3–0 | Netherlands |
| 2007 | Italy | 3–0 | Serbia |
Women's European Volleyball Championship Medal Table
Look at any international volleyball tournament, men's or women's and more often than not you will find the Soviet Union heading the medal table, as they dominated the international volleyball scene for a large number of years. They won ten of the first eleven tournaments and then added another three wins over the next five tournaments, giving them a total of thirteen gold medals; they actually made the first seventeen finals, picking up silver medals in four of those. Russia have won six of their appearances to add to three bronze medals, giving them more golds than the next best, Italy and Serbia, who have three apiece.
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Soviet Union | 13 | 4 | 0 | 17 |
| 2nd | Russia | 6 | 0 | 3 | 9 |
| 3rd | Italy | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9 |
| 3rd | Serbia | 3 | 3 | 1 | 7 |
| 5th | Poland | 2 | 4 | 5 | 11 |
Contributor Information
Our volleyball content, including this Women's European Volleyball Championship preview, is meticulously crafted by Andy, who maintains the content on this page, keeping you up-to-date with the latest information.
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Other Volleyball Blogs
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