France and Türkiye rule the Mediterranean: gold for both in Taranto!

The Mediterranean volleyball story in Taranto ended with two different champions, but with one common theme: the host nation had to settle for medals rather than gold!
France crowned an impressive men’s campaign with a commanding 3–0 victory over Greece in the final, while Türkiye completed an unbeaten run to claim the women’s title by defeating Italy in straight sets. The hosts nevertheless finished the volleyball tournaments with two medals — silver for the women and bronze for the men — confirming Italy’s place on both podiums without managing to turn home advantage into a championship.
For France, the men’s gold was built on a mixture of consistency, resilience and an ability to survive the hardest moments of the tournament. Les Bleus had already been forced through a five-set battle against Türkiye in the semi-finals, eventually prevailing 25:21, 23:25, 25:18, 23:25, 15:10.
Greece had taken an equally dramatic route to the final. In front of a passionate home crowd, the Greeks eliminated Italy in one of the tournament’s most spectacular matches, recovering from a first-set defeat and eventually winning 3–2 after a marathon battle. The scoreline itself tells the story: 23:25, 25:23, 31:29, 25:27, 15:8.

The final, however, was a different story.

France never allowed Greece to reproduce the intensity that had carried them through the semi-final.
The French controlled the decisive moments of all three sets and completed a convincing 25:18, 25:20, 25:15 victory.
Greece had their moments, particularly early in the opening set, but France gradually took control and never let the match escape.
The result gave France the men’s Mediterranean Games crown in a competition that once again demonstrated how little separates several of Europe’s national teams outside the traditional major championships.

For Italy, meanwhile, there was still a medal to fight for.
Less than 24 hours after the painful semi-final defeat to Greece, the Azzurri returned to the PalaMazzola to face Türkiye for bronze. The match became another five-set battle, but this time Italy found the right ending.
Italy won 25–19, lost a fiercely contested second set 24–26, regained the lead at 25–18 and watched Türkiye force a deciding set by taking the fourth 25–23. In the tie-break, however, Italy kept its nerve and closed the match 15–10.
Federico Frascio was one of the protagonists of the bronze-medal match, scoring 27 points, while Tim Held added 17.
The Italian victory also carried a sense of déjà vu: it was the second consecutive Mediterranean Games bronze for the men’s national team, following the third-place finish at Oran 2022.
There was therefore no gold for the hosts, but there was a place on the podium once again.

The women’s tournament followed a different script.
Italy arrived in the final unbeaten and had looked particularly convincing throughout the competition.
The Azzurre had topped their preliminary group with three victories from three matches and then swept Greece 3–0 in the semi-finals, winning 25:22, 25:14 and 25:22.
Türkiye, however, had been building its own perfect campaign.
The Turkish women defeated Egypt, Kosovo, Greece and Spain in the group stage before eliminating Serbia 3–1 in the semi-finals. The 25:16, 23:25, 25:21, 25:22 victory sent Türkiye into the gold-medal match still unbeaten.
And in the final, the Sultanlar finally broke Italy’s resistance.
The first set was already a warning. Türkiye established control and closed it 25–22. The second became the turning point of the entire match. Italy had the opportunity to level the contest, but Türkiye recovered from a significant deficit and eventually won the set 26–24.
The comeback proved decisive.
With Italy suddenly under pressure, Türkiye maintained its composure in the third set and completed the championship with a 25–18 victory.
Three sets. No defeat. Gold around their necks.
The result was particularly painful for Italy because the Azzurre had entered the final with a realistic chance of completing a perfect home tournament. Instead, they had to settle for silver — still a valuable medal, but one that left the hosts without the title they had hoped to celebrate in Taranto.
The silver also represented an improvement on Italy’s women’s result at Oran 2022, where the team had taken bronze. The men, meanwhile, repeated their third-place finish from the previous edition.
Türkiye’s women were joined on the podium by Serbia.
The Serbian team recovered from its semi-final defeat to Türkiye by beating Greece 3–2 in the bronze-medal match, 22:25, 25:16, 25:20, 18:25, 15:7.

The final women’s standings were therefore Türkiye, Italy, Serbia and Greece.
On the men’s side, France finished first, followed by Greece, Italy and Türkiye.

There was something fitting about the way the Taranto volleyball tournaments ended.
The Mediterranean Games are traditionally a meeting point between different volleyball cultures, and the 2026 edition offered a particularly intriguing mixture: established European powers, ambitious challengers and teams using the tournament as an important stage in the build-up to the next major international appointments.
The setting made it even more special.
Taranto 2026 is hosting the 20th edition of the Mediterranean Games, bringing together more than 4,000 athletes from 26 nations across 25 sports.
Volleyball was among the major team events of the programme, adding another international chapter to a city already deeply connected with sport and the Mediterranean.

And what a finale it was.
Two gold medals went to two different countries. France conquered the men’s tournament after surviving a five-set semi-final and then sweeping Greece. Türkiye produced an unbeaten women’s campaign and defeated the home team in the final.
Italy, meanwhile, did what it has so often done on the Mediterranean stage: it remained among the protagonists until the very end.
But this time, in its own backyard, the gold medals belonged to someone else.