2026 Men's European Volleyball Championship

Year change

Host selection

• – On 5 December 2022, Romania was announced as the first host. This is Romania's first time hosting since 1963 and third in total after 1955 and 1963.
• – Bulgaria was confirmed as the second host on 26 February 2024, becoming the first ever country to host back to back European Championships. This is Bulgaria's fifth organisation of EuroVolley, after 1950, 1981, 2015 and 2023.
• – Finnish city, Tampere, was given the hosting rights on 14 March 2024 and will host a group. This is the Finns fourth time holding the event, with Finland previously hosting in 1977, 1993 and 2021.
• – On 25 March 2024 Italy was announced as the fourth and final host. Alongside Bulgaria, Italy becomes the second country to host consecutive championships. The tournament has previously taken place in Italy in 1948, 1971, 2005, 2015 and 2023.

Rejected countries

• – Germany had stated their interest in November 2022 and by May 2023, Germany's interest was approved by CEV with the SAP Garden in Munich being propsed as a possible venue. However, in February 2024, Germany said to CEV that they were not ready to host the event and they would focus on the 2028 edition. The Germans were in line to become the main hosts before their withdrawal. The Italians then took their hosting place as they wrote to CEV saying they wanted to host, which would later be approved.
• – Serbia was briefly mentioned as a possible host in February 2023, but this never materialised. They are currently bidding to jointly host in 2028 along with Croatia, Latvia and Serbia.

Venues

Overview of venues

Italy

• Four Italian venues will be used during the tournament. The Piazza del Plebiscito in Naples will host the opening match at the temporary venue at the square. The rest of the group phase will take place in Modena at the PalaPanini, the home for numerous Modena-based clubs.
• Italy's round of 16 and quarterfinal matches will be held at Turin's Palavela. The venue was built in 1961 but renovated in 2004 for the 2006 Winter Olympics, where it held figure skating and short track speed skating events. It has since organised championships in both aforementioned sports, plus Gymnastics and the 2015 Men's European Volleyball Championship.
• The semifinals and final will take place at the newly built PalaItalia in Milan. Constructed for the 2026 Winter Olympics and 2026 Winter Paralympics, this will be the venue's first championship of any sport after the games.

Bulgaria

• In Bulgaria, the nation's biggest indoor facility, Arena 8888, would be chosen, replacing the originally chosen Palace of Culture and Sports in Varna. The established venue has hosted various competitions, with this being their third major volleyball tournament after the 2015 Men's European Volleyball Championship and 2018 FIVB Men's Volleyball World Championship. The venue has also hosted Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015.

Finland

• In Finland, the Nokia Arena would host games. Constructed in time for the 2022 IIHF World Championship, it has since hosted the 2023 IIHF World Championship and EuroBasket 2025, plus numerous high-profile concerts.

Romania

• In Romania, the BTarena will organise matches. The venue was built in 2014 but expanded in preparation for EuroBasket 2017. Romania's largest arena would later host the 2021 Women's European Volleyball Championship. Basketball team, U-BT Cluj-Napoca, plays their home games here.

Venue
Group allocation of hosts As the main organisers, Italy were seeded into Pool A, As the secondary venue, the Bulgaria were positioned in Pool B As the two countries hosting a single group, Finland and Romania are placed into Pool C and D respectively. Final draw The final draw took place at 20:45 CET in Bari, Italy on 4 October 2025 at the Castello Normanno-Svevo. Italian journalist, Simona Rolandi and CEV press officer, Federico Ferraro, were the hosts of the final draw. Bulgarian libero Damyan Kolev, Finnish outside hitter Luka Marttila, Italian setter Fabio Vullo and Romanian middle blocker Bela Bartha were the guests for the final draw. The final draw started with the co-hosts and chosen teams being placed into their respective groups and continued with, in order, pots 1, 2, 3 and 4 being drawn, with each team selected then allocated into the first available group alphabetically. Chosen teams The organizers could select one team to join their pools. Host team Chosen team Seeding The teams are seeded according to the CEV National Team rankings before the draw. The only restriction is that the two finalists from the previous edition, Italy and Poland, were drawn in different preliminary pools so that can only play each other in the final. Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3 Pot 4 Schedule The schedule was announced on 5 November 2025. Preliminary round All times are local. The top four teams in each pool qualify for the final round. Match won 3–0 or 3–1: 3 match points for the winner, 0 match points for the loser Match won 3–2: 2 match points for the winner, 1 match point for the loser Tiebreakers Number of matches won Match points Sets ratio Points ratio If the tie continues as per the point ratio between two teams, the priority is given to the team which won the match between them. When the tie in points ratio is between three or more teams, a new classification of these teams in the terms of points 1, 2, 3 and 4 is made taking into consideration only the matches in which they were opposed to each other. Pool A Pool B Pool C Pool D Final round All times are local. Round of 16 Quarterfinals Semifinals 3rd place match Final Final standing Rank Team 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Marketing Tickets Tickets were released on 7 November 2025. Official ticket websites * * * *