Women's Volleyball European Championship

The 2026 Women's Volleyball European Championship in Baku, Azerbaijan, has commenced with several opening matches in Group C.

In the first reported match, the Netherlands defeated Romania in a contest decided by a tiebreak. Despite Romania briefly taking the lead in the first set, the Dutch team recovered to win the set 25-21 and maintained control to secure the victory. The Netherlands secured a narrow 3-2 win with set scores of 25-21, 26-28, 25-15, 22-25, and 15-9. Elles Dambrink led the scoring for the Netherlands with 24 points, while Romania’s efforts were spearheaded by Ioana Baciu with 19 points and captain Rodica Buterez with 18 points.

In another Group C matchup, Belgium defeated Spain with a final score of 3-2 (25-15, 18-25, 23-25, 25-17, 15-8). While Spain, led by coach Pascual Saurín, managed to win the second and third sets to take a temporary lead, Belgium regained momentum in the fourth set to secure the win. Spain’s loss marks a difficult start to their tournament schedule, which includes upcoming matches against Azerbaijan, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Romania.

The tournament is being hosted across Azerbaijan, Turkey, the Czech Republic, and Sweden.