The Italian women’s volleyball team take silver at the European Championships, beaten by Turkey in the final
Turkey are European champions in women’s volleyball. Julio Velasco’s Italia lost the final, played in Istanbul, in a tie-break to the national team led by head coach Daniele Santarelli, missing out on a third consecutive title following their victories at the 2024 Paris Olympics and last year’s World Championship. The set scores were as follows: 25–16, 22–25, 25–12, 21–25, 10–15. Italia got off to a flying start in the final, dominating the first set 25–16. They were also ahead in the second, but Turkey fought back to win 25-22. The Azzurri dominated again in the third set, which ended 25-12. Turkey, however, bounced back to win 25-21 and took the tie-break 15-10, to the delight of the Istanbul crowd.
In the afternoon, Serbia won the bronze medal by beating Poland in the ‘third-place play-off’.
And so the Azzurri’s journey, which began on 21 August in Gothenburg, continued in Brno and culminated on that night in Istanbul, comes to an end at the very last hurdle. Eight consecutive victories had taken Italia to the final; the ninth match, however, handed the title to Daniele Santarelli’s Turkey, who retained their European crown following their gold medal win in 2023.
For Italia, this marks the third European silver medal in its history, following those of 2001 and 2005, and the ninth medal overall at the event, adding to the three golds won in 2007, 2009 and 2021, and the three bronze medals won previously.
The final in Istanbul lived up to all the pre-match expectations right to the very end. On one side were Italia, the reigning Olympic and world champions; on the other, Turkey, the reigning European champions, spurred on by their home crowd and determined to defend the title they had won three years earlier on home soil. The result was an intense contest, in which the Italian women tried to stay in the game even during the most challenging moments.
