Volleyball, men’s European Championships in Italy again in 2026
Volleyball, European Championships in Italy
After the unprecedented success of the 2023 European Championships, whose economic and social impact è has been estimated at around 234 million euros, the men’s continental review will return to Italy again in 2026. Ferdinando De Giorgi’s reigning world champions will thus have the chance to play the continental championship on home soil for the second consecutive edition. Italy will be the co-organizer of the event along with the already confirmed countries Bulgaria, Finland and Romania. As in the last edition, the finals will be played in the Bel Paese.
The European Championship 2023 represented something exceptional at the organizational level and the Italian Volleyball Federation has decided to repeat the experience, thus offering tens of thousands of fans a new opportunity to witness the exploits of the best athletes on the continent.
Italy hosted the first men's continental review in 1948. Since è the CEV was established in 1973, it also hosted the 2005 and 2015 editions (along with Serbia & Montenegro and Bulgaria, respectively) and last year's highly successful event with matches played in Bologna, Perugia, Ancona, Bari and Rome.
As was the case in 2019, the European Championships will see the participation of twenty-four teams; the four co-organizing nations, plus the eight who qualified directly based on the final ranking of the 2023 edition (Poland, Slovenia, France, the Netherlands, Serbia, Ukraine, Germany and Portugal), plus another twelve teams who will break through the qualifiers scheduled during the summers of 2024 and 2025. Whoever wins the 2026 European Championships will rightfully detach a pass for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games
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