Italy leave Istanbul with the silver medal at EuroVolley 2026, but the disappointment is impossible to hide. The dream of winning the European Championship ended in the fifth set, after the Azzurre had started the final against Türkiye with authority and appeared capable of taking control of the match.
Instead, the hosts fought back, turned the final around and won 3-2 at the Sinan Erdem Sports Hall: 16-25, 25-22, 12-25, 25-21, 15-10.
The defeat hurts precisely because of what came before it.
Italy arrived in Istanbul as reigning Olympic and World champions. They had won all eight previous matches at EuroVolley 2026 and had just beaten Poland 3-1 in the semifinal.
Nine matches were played by Italy in the tournament.
Eight were victories.
The ninth was the one that decided the title.
And that ninth match went to Türkiye.

Italy start like European champions
The opening set could hardly have been better for Julio Velasco’s team.
Italy immediately put pressure on the Turkish defence, controlled the rhythm and forced the hosts into difficult solutions.
The result was a clear 25-16.
The Azzurre looked confident, aggressive and organised.
Türkiye tried to respond in the second set, but Italy again created a significant advantage. At one point, the Azzurre were leading 12-6.
The European title suddenly seemed very close.
Then everything changed.
Türkiye began to recover point after point, using the energy of the Istanbul crowd and finding greater consistency in attack.
The hosts eventually completed the comeback and won the set 25-22.
The final was level again.

The third set brings the dream back
Italy responded exactly as a great team should.
The third set was one of the strongest moments of the entire final.
The Azzurre dominated.
They attacked with confidence, defended aggressively and put Türkiye under enormous pressure.
The final score was 25-12.
Italy were now one set away from European gold.
At 2-1, the dream of completing the Olympic-World-European triple crown was alive again.
Only one more set was needed.
But Türkiye refused to surrender.

The fourth set changes everything again
The fourth set belonged to the hosts.
Türkiye immediately increased the pressure and built a significant lead.
Italy attempted to respond and managed to reduce the gap, but this time the comeback stopped short.
Türkiye closed the set 25-21.
The final was going to a tie-break.
And that was where the story would be decided.
--
The tie-break breaks the Italian dream
The fifth set was tense from the beginning.
Türkiye found greater clarity at the crucial moments, while the home crowd pushed the hosts forward.
Italy tried to remain close, but Türkiye gradually created the decisive advantage.
The final score was 15-10.
The European title belonged to Türkiye.
Italy were European runners-up.
The numbers underline the quality of the final: Melissa Vargas finished with 29 points for Türkiye, while Paola Egonu led Italy with 28. Ekaterina Antropova scored 16 and Myriam Sylla 13.
But statistics cannot fully explain the emotions of a five-set European final.

The disappointment is real
There is no reason to hide the disappointment.
These players came to Istanbul to win.
After Olympic gold in Paris in 2024 and World Championship gold in Thailand in 2025, EuroVolley represented the final piece of a potential triple crown.
Olympic champions.
World champions.
European champions.
All at the same time.
Only the Soviet Union had previously achieved that feat in women’s volleyball.
Italy were one match away from joining that very exclusive list.
That opportunity has now disappeared.
Türkiye also secured the direct qualification ticket for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
Italy did not.
That is another major target that slipped away in Istanbul.

Two extraordinary winning streaks come to an end
The defeat also ended some remarkable Italian statistics.
Before the final, Italy had won 39 consecutive official matches against European national teams.
The previous defeat against a European opponent had come on 14 May 2024, when Poland defeated Italy 3-0 in Ankara in the VNL.
Türkiye ended that extraordinary run.
The final also ended a 21-match winning streak across the three biggest international tournaments: the Olympic Games, World Championship and European Championship.
After losing to the Netherlands in the bronze-medal match at EuroVolley 2023, Italy had won all six matches at the Paris Olympics, all seven matches at the 2025 World Championship and the first eight matches at EuroVolley 2026.
Twenty-one consecutive victories.
Then came Istanbul.

One defeat cannot erase an extraordinary journey
This is the point that matters most.
Italy lost a final.
They did not lose their value.
They did not lose their identity.
And they certainly did not lose everything they have built over the last few years.
The recent record is extraordinary: VNL gold in 2024, Olympic gold in Paris, VNL gold in 2025, World Championship gold in 2025, VNL bronze in 2026 and now European silver.
The Istanbul result cannot erase any of that.
Silver is not the medal Italy wanted.
But it is still a medal won at one of the most important tournaments in international volleyball.
And it came after eight consecutive victories.
Italy topped Pool D with five wins from five matches, defeated Bulgaria in the round of 16, Sweden in the quarterfinal, Poland in the semifinal and reached the European final.
That is not failure.
It is a defeat.
Those are two very different things.

Türkiye were better when it mattered most
Credit must also go to Türkiye.
Daniele Santarelli’s team produced a remarkable comeback.
After losing the first and third sets, Türkiye found the strength to respond twice.
And when the final reached the deciding fifth set, the hosts were more clinical.
Santarelli therefore won his second consecutive European Championship with Türkiye, while the Turkish national team successfully defended the title won in 2023.
Melissa Vargas was named tournament MVP.
There is no need to search for excuses.
Italy had their opportunities.
Türkiye took theirs.
That is sport.

Italy remain on the European podium
The silver medal means Italy return to the European podium five years after winning gold in Belgrade in 2021.
It is the ninth European Championship medal in Italian women’s volleyball history.
The complete European medal record is now:
3 gold medals: 2007, 2009, 2021
3 silver medals: 2001, 2005, 2026
3 bronze medals: 1989, 1999, 2019
Italy have also reached six European finals: 2001, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2021 and 2026.
The fourth European title did not arrive.
But Italy’s continental history remains extraordinary.

Julio Velasco deserves enormous credit
In a moment of disappointment, one person deserves particular recognition: Julio Velasco.
The defeat should not overshadow the historic milestone he achieved in Istanbul.
Velasco became the first coach in history to reach a European Championship final in both the men’s and women’s tournaments.
With Italy’s men, he reached four European finals and won three: 1989, 1993 and 1995.
In Istanbul, he reached his first European final as coach of the women’s national team.
At 74 years and 209 days, he also became the oldest coach ever to lead a team in a European Championship final.
Those achievements deserve respect.
They deserve recognition regardless of the final result.
Velasco’s work with the women’s national team has already produced VNL gold in 2024, Olympic gold in Paris, VNL gold in 2025, World Championship gold in 2025, VNL bronze in 2026 and now European silver. FIPAV’s updated record also lists 118 matches and 97 victories across his experiences with the Italian women’s national team.

The players deserve the same recognition
And then there are the players.
Anna Danesi, the captain.
Alessia Orro, the setter guiding the team through another extraordinary international campaign.
Paola Egonu, once again a leading figure on the biggest stage.
Ekaterina Antropova, increasingly important to the Italian project.
Myriam Sylla, a symbol of leadership and personality.
Sarah Fahr, Denise Meli and Danesi in the middle.
Every setter, outside hitter, middle blocker, opposite and libero.
And every player who contributed even when she was not on court.
A national team is never just the player who scores the final point.
It is a group.
It is a coaching staff.
It is the medical team.
It is the analysts.
It is the people working behind the scenes.
It is the players on the bench who remain ready for their opportunity.
That is why every member of this Italian team deserves congratulations.
They have shown, match after match, that they belong at the highest level.

The full international legacy
The historical record also deserves to be placed in context.
Olympic Games
Gold: Paris 2024
Paris produced the first Olympic gold medal in the history of Italian women’s volleyball.
World Championship
Gold: 2002, 2025
Silver: 2018
Bronze: 2022
European Championship
Gold: 2007, 2009, 2021
Silver: 2001, 2005, 2026
Bronze: 1989, 1999, 2019
Volleyball Nations League
Gold: 2022, 2024, 2025
Bronze: 2026
World Cup
Italy have actually won the World Cup twice, in 2007 and 2011.
World Grand Prix
Italy never won the World Grand Prix, but reached the podium seven times:
Silver: 2004, 2005, 2017
Bronze: 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010
Mediterranean Games
The women’s national team has also collected:
Gold: 1979, 1983, 1991, 1997, 2001, 2009, 2013, 2022
Silver: 1975, 2026
Bronze: 1987, 2005
The history is therefore much larger than one lost final.

The dream is broken, not the project
Perhaps the simplest conclusion is also the most important.
The European dream is over. The Italian project is not.
Türkiye won the final.
Italy return home with silver.
There will be disappointment.
There will be analysis.
There will be questions about what went wrong in the second and fourth sets and why the Azzurre could not complete the job in the deciding tie-break.
That is normal.
But there must also be pride.
Pride in the Olympic gold.
Pride in the World Championship.
Pride in the three VNL titles.
Pride in the European titles.
Pride in the World Cup victories.
And pride in a team that continues to arrive at the biggest tournaments ready to compete for medals.
As Myriam Sylla pointed out after the final, the silver medal is the result of work, effort and sacrifice. Nobody gave Italy this medal. The Azzurre earned their place in the final.
So today it is possible to be disappointed.
It is possible to be hurt.
It is possible to regret a missed opportunity.
But it is also necessary to say thank you.
Thank you to the players.
Thank you to Velasco.
Thank you to the staff.
Thank you to everyone working behind the scenes.
And congratulations to every member of this team for proving once again that Italy belong among the very best teams in the world.
A lost final hurts.
But repeatedly reaching finals is also the mark of a great team.
The European dream was broken in Istanbul. The Italian story continues.

Previous articles
Follow the complete Italian journey through EuroVolley 2026 with the previous articles:

Italy reaches the EuroVolley 2026 final after beating Poland

Italy-Sweden 3-1: The Azzurre reach the European semifinal

👉 READ THE FULL ARTICLE ON THE " Commenta La Notizia " BLOG 👇
https://commenta-la-notizia.blogspot.com/2026/09/italia-argento-europei-volley-2026-turchia-velasco.html

Subscribe and vote for all articles 👇
https://www.publish0x.com/goldweb?a=xkazKWYYbJ

© 2026 Commenta la Notizia - All rights reserved
Official sources used under fair use

📺 Follow Commenta La Notizia for deeper insights, global analysis, and fearless discussions about the issues that shape our world — from politics and technology to society and the hidden forces behind the headlines.
⚠️ Legal Notice This article and the related multimedia content are the exclusive property of the author. Copying, reproduction, distribution, or modification in any form or on any platform is prohibited without written permission.
Copyright © CondividiSulWeb – YouTube Commenta La Notizia

👤 Author: @condividisulweb

✍️ Commenta La Notizia is my editorial project created to provide clear and engaging insights into news, events, and major current issues.
Every article, video, and short is made with a clear goal: not only to inform, but also to give context, reflection points, and analysis to understand not just what happens, but especially why it happens.
With Commenta La Notizia I want to build a reliable and accessible space where everyone can get informed, understand, and join the discussion.
🌐 If you want to stay updated, you can follow me here.
💬 Your opinion matters! Every piece of news is a chance to discuss: share your thoughts and make your voice heard.
📰 Comment, share, stay informed.

🙏 Thank you for reading: your time and your opinion are the true value

✍️ SUPPORT FREE INFORMATION✍️

⚠️REMEMBER, YOU CAN VOTE ON ALL ARTICLES EVERY HOUR
AND REGISTER FOR FREE TO VOTE!⚠️

👇👇👇👇 😍 HELP GROW MY PASSION😍 👇👇👇👇

Publish0x Blog

Official Blog (Original Complete Articles)

Blurt Blog

Facebook Page

X Page

Youtube Channel

Telegram Channel