VolleyBar93# : Thursday September 24, 2026

On this day…
volleyball birthdays and Amarcord, Eurovolley 2026, Blengini, Türkiye, Poland, 20th Asian Games — Aichi-Nagoya 2026 and Africa

Welcome to the 93th episode of VolleyBar, the first-ever daily column created to bring the day’s main volleyball news together in one place.

On September 24, 1957, during the IOC session in Sofia, Bulgaria, the International Olympic Committee officially recognised volleyball as an Olympic sport and recognised the FIVB as the sport’s international governing body.
Volleyball would make its official Olympic debut at Tokyo 1964, with both men’s and women’s tournaments. The sport had previously appeared as a demonstration event at the 1924 Paris Olympics, but the 1957 decision was the crucial institutional step towards becoming a full Olympic discipline.

Roza Salikhova was born in Nizhny Novgorod on September 24, 1944.
The Soviet outside hitter was part of one of the most dominant women’s teams in volleyball history, winning Olympic gold at Mexico City 1968 and Munich 1972, playing alongside legends such as Inna Ryskal, Nina Smoleeva and Lyudmila Buldakova.
Her international career began in 1966, when she joined the Soviet national team after making a remarkably rapid transition into elite volleyball. She was inducted into the International Volleyball Hall of Fame in 2014.

A much more contemporary birthday is Britt Herbots.
The Belgian outside hitter was born on September 24, 1999, and has become one of the most recognisable players of her generation. Her career has included important spells in Italy, including Igor Novara, and she has been one of Belgium’s leading attacking players internationally.

Aleksandar Mitrović, the Serbian outside hitter, was born on September 24, 1982.
He represented Serbia and Montenegro at the 2004 Athens Olympics and subsequently built a long international club career that took him through Italy, Türkiye, Poland, France and other countries.
His résumé includes Pallavolo Mantova, Latina, Halkbank Ankara, Resovia and Ajaccio.

On September 24, 2025, defending world champions Italy swept Belgium 3–0 (25:13, 25:18, 25:18) in the World Championship quarterfinals in the Philippines.
The result was particularly significant because Belgium had beaten Italy 3–2 in the pool phase. Italy therefore turned the tables when the stakes were highest and secured a place in the semifinals.
That victory was Italy’s seventh World Championship semifinal appearance.
On the same day, Poland defeated Türkiye 3–0 (25:15, 25:22, 25:19) to join Italy in the last four.

Another excellent historical match, at the 2019 Men’s EuroVolley, France defeated Italy 3–0 (25:16, 27:25, 25:14) in Nantes on September 24 to reach the semifinals.
The second set was the turning point: Italy had set points but France survived, before taking control of the third. Stephen Boyer was France’s outstanding scorer, serving nine aces.
The atmosphere in Nantes as extraordinary, with the French hosts advancing to the semifinals in front of a huge home crowd.

The other quarterfinal that day was even more dramatic:
Serbia 3–2 Ukraine
21:25, 25:23, 25:22, 19:25, 15:9.
Serbia survived a five-set battle in Antwerp and joined France in the semifinals.

At the 2018 Men’s World Championship, September 24 marked the conclusion of the second-round pool phase.
The United States entered the Final Six in Turin as the only undefeated team, having won all eight of their matches.
Their final second-round victory was a 3–0 sweep of Iran, 25:23, 26:24, 26:24.
The Final Six in Turin would feature USA, Brazil, Poland, Italy, Serbia and Russia.
That tournament ultimately produced a fascinating final phase in Italy, with Poland winning the world title.

On September 24, 2020, the CEV Champions League was entering a decisive stage of its first round after volleyball had been profoundly disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
CEV described the competition as having returned despite numerous complications: several matches had been suspended and some teams had been forced to forfeit matches because of the pandemic.
Three men’s pools — A, B and C — were deciding their winners that day. In Pool C, for example, Jastrzębski Węgiel and Draisma Dynamo were fighting directly for qualification.

At the 2017 Women’s EuroVolley, September 24 was the final day of pool play.
Serbia secured first place in Pool D, while the Netherlands finished second and the Czech Republic third, all progressing to the next stage.
In Pool B, Italy also finished first, beating Croatia in five sets on the final evening. Belarus secured second place and Croatia third.

But today’s biggest volleyball story is obviously what happened last night in Turin.
Finland eliminated world champions Italy 3–2 in the quarterfinal: 21:25, 28:26, 25:16, 20:25, 15:13.
The match lasted 135 minutes and was played in front of 8,260 spectators at PalaVela.
Italy led the deciding set 11–8, but Finland turned it around and won 15–13. Finland therefore reached the European Championship semifinals for only the second time in its history, after 2007.

That leaves the 2026 semifinal line-up as:

Poland – Slovenia
France – Finland

Poland and France had already qualified on September 22, while Slovenia eliminated Belgium on September 23 and Finland produced the biggest upset of the tournament against Italy.

Recall that you can read all EuroVolley news directly here, while calendar with all games, results and gallery updated every day is here.

So, as of September 24, three of the four teams that reached the decisive stage of the 2025 World Championship are already out of EuroVolley 2026.
Poland is the exception!

With the national team eliminated, the Italian club scene starts taking centre stage.
One of today’s notable developments is Gianlorenzo Blengini’s new role at Numia Vero Volley Milano. The former Italy men’s coach and current Bulgaria men’s coach has officially begun his new club challenge as head coach of the women’s team in Milan for 2026/27. He was presented with the team yesterday.

There is also a significant pre-season event beginning today in Oristano: the fourth Sardegna Volleyball Challenge officially opens this evening, ahead of the September 25–26 tournament featuring Panathinaikos, Korabelka Saint Petersburg, OK Tent Obrenovac and CSO Voluntari.
The field includes three reigning national champions, while Italian coaches Alessandro Chiappini and Giovanni Caprara lead Panathinaikos and Voluntari respectively.

The Turkish club season is still in preparation, but today’s schedule includes two major women’s teams facing each other in a friendly:
VakıfBank vs Eczacıbaşı today, alongside Aras Kargo vs Beşiktaş.
That is useful because it gives us a snapshot of the Turkish women’s elite preparing for the new season while the men’s national-team cycle is still very much part of the EuroVolley story.

The Polish club calendar is also still in pre-season, but Poland’s biggest volleyball story remains the national team’s extraordinary continuity at the top of European volleyball.
The defending European champions are already through to the EuroVolley 2026 semifinals, having beaten Germany 3–0 in Sofia on September 22. Their presence in the last four means Poland remain the only team from the 2025 World Championship’s final four still alive in the European Championship alongside the new contenders.

Always about international activity, 20th Asian Games — Aichi-Nagoya 2026
Men’s Volleyball Preliminary Round Schedule is this:

September 27, 2026
• 🇶🇦 Qatar vs 🇭🇰 Hong Kong
• 🇮🇷 Iran vs 🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan
• 🇰🇷 South Korea vs 🇵🇭 Philippines
• 🇵🇰 Pakistan vs 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan
• 🇮🇳 India vs 🇻🇳 Vietnam
• 🇮🇩 Indonesia vs 🇹🇭 Thailand
• 🇨🇳 China vs 🇹🇼 Chinese Taipei
• 🇯🇵 Japan vs 🇺🇿 Uzbekistan

September 28, 2026
• 🇮🇳 India vs 🇭🇰 Hong Kong
• 🇮🇩 Indonesia vs 🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan
• 🇨🇳 China vs 🇵🇭 Philippines
• 🇵🇰 Pakistan vs 🇺🇿 Uzbekistan
• 🇶🇦 Qatar vs 🇻🇳 Vietnam
• 🇮🇷 Iran vs 🇹🇭 Thailand
• 🇰🇷 South Korea vs 🇹🇼 Chinese Taipei
• 🇯🇵 Japan vs 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan

September 29, 2026
• 🇻🇳 Vietnam vs 🇭🇰 Hong Kong
• 🇹🇭 Thailand vs 🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan
• 🇹🇼 Chinese Taipei vs 🇵🇭 Philippines
• 🇺🇿 Uzbekistan vs 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan
• 🇮🇳 India vs 🇶🇦 Qatar
• 🇮🇩 Indonesia vs 🇮🇷 Iran
• 🇨🇳 China vs 🇰🇷 South Korea
• 🇯🇵 Japan vs 🇵🇰 Pakistan

In Africa, Tunisia has officially qualified for the 2027 FIVB Men’s Volleyball World Cup! The Tunisian national team secured its spot after advancing to the finals of the CAVB Men’s African Nations Volleyball Championship, defeating Morocco in four sets: 25:17, 20:25, 25:16, 25:12.
Also Cameroon has officially qualified for the 2027 FIVB Men’s Volleyball World Cup after advancing to the finals defeating Algeria also in four sets: 25:22, 25:16, 20:25, 25:23.
Cameroon and Tunisia advances to the championship match and secures two of Africa’s three qualification spots for the 2027 World Cup.
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