Women's European Volleyball Championship


The Women's European Volleyball Championship is the official competition for senior women's national volleyball teams of Europe, organized by the European Volleyball Confederation. The initial gap between championships was variable, but since 1975 they have been awarded every two years. The current champion is Serbia, which won its third title at the 2019 tournament in Turkey.

History

The first tournament was held in 1949 with participation of seven national teams. It was dominated by teams from Eastern Europe, who at that times were strongest teams not only at the European continent but also in the whole world. The teams from Eastern Europe dominated at the tournament for next four and half decades. The first European title was won by Soviet Union, who also won two next editions – in 1950 and 1951. At all three tournaments Soviet team demonstated overwhelming advantage – they not only won all matches, but also didn't lose any single set. This achievement was repeated by Soviet Union at the first Women's World Championship which was held in 1952 in Moscow.
In 1955, Czechoslovakia managed to break Soviet dominance and to win European gold after 3-2 victory over a Soviet Union in a decisive match at the tournament. However, Soviet team returned at first positions after victory at the 1956 World Championship next year. At the next 1958 European Championship which was held in Czechoslovakia, Soviet Union took revenge and returned European title after 3-2 victories over host team and Poland who captured silver and bronze medals respectively.
The victory in 1958 marked the beginning of the era of dominance of the Soviet Union which lasted for more than two decades. From 1958 to 1979, Soviet team didn't lose any tournament by winning 7 European titles in a row. At the next European Championship which was held in 1963, Soviet Union defended own title after difficult 3-2 victory over a Poland in a decisive match of the final round. But at next two European tournaments – in 1967 and 1971 – Soviet team demonstrated overwhelming advantage not losing any single set in all matches. European Championships held in 1975 and 1977 were also won relatively easy as all matches ended with either 3-0 or 3-1 victories. However, at the 1979 European Championship, Soviet Union faced with serious resistance from opponents. In preliminary round, Soviet Union lost 2-3 to Poland. It was only second defeat of the Soviet team at the European Championships and also their first defeat within 24 years. It, however, affected little at outcome of the tournament as Polish team was eliminated after preliminary round while Soviet team won gold medals after difficult 3-2 victories over a Romania and Bulgaria in the final round. During these two decades, Soviet Union was not only dominant power in Europe but also world volleyball superpower by winning two Olympic titles, two World Championships and first edition of the Women's World Cup held in 1973.
After victory at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, a power of the Soviet team started to decline. At the next 1981 European Championship which was held in Bulgaria, home team finally managed to break Soviet dominance. Bulgaria won their maiden European title after 3-0 victory over a Soviet Union in a decisive match of the final round which was held in Sofia. The next four European Championships were marked by rivalry between Soviet Union and East Germany. In 1983, playing at home, East Germany obtained a remarkable victory over Soviets after trailing 0-2 in a decisive match of the final round which was held in Rostock and won their maiden European title. Two years later Soviet team took revenge and returned European title after 3-0 victory over East Germany in a decisive match of the final round. But in 1987 East Germany won European Championship for second time after 3-2 victory over Soviet Union in a final march. The last European final between these national teams took place in 1989 in Stuttgart, West Germany. Soviet team won 3-1 and returned European title.
In late 1980s, Soviet Union was managed to return status of volleyball superpower not only in Europe but also in the world by winning 1988 Olympic Games and 1990 World Championships. At the 1991 European Championship, Soviet team demonstrated overwhelming advantage not losing any single set in all matches – including 3-0 victories over unified Germany in semifinals and Netherlands in the final match. It however was their last participation at the competition. Soviet national team finished its history with remarkable statistics - they won 13 of 17 European Championships, suffered only 5 defeats in 116 matches, with set ratio 341:43.
Following the Soviet Union's dissolution in December 1991, Russia continued to dominate in Europe. It's remarkable that their main European rival at those times was Croatia strengthened by some former Soviet players such as Irina Kirillova, Yelena Chebukina, Tatyana Sidorenko and Maria Likhtenstein. In 1995, playing at home, Netherlands managed to break this dominance after 3-1 victory over a Russia in semifinals and 3-0 victory over Croatia in a final match which was held in Arnhem. This victory became historical not only for Netherlands, but also for whole Western Europe. At the next two editions – in 1997 and 1999 – Russia returned at first positions after 3-0 victories over Croatia in both final matches. But in the 2001 European Championship final Russian team faced with stronger resistance from the new rising European power – Italy. Russia achieved difficult victory in a five-set match. Nikolay Karpol won European title as head coach for the record seventh time.
After victory in 2001, the period of Russia's dominance came to end, and more national teams were managed to win their maiden European title. The next tournament was surprisingly won by Poland while Russia and Italy faced only in 5th place match. At the 2005 European Championship, Polish team proved non-randomness of this success after 3-2 victory over a Russia in semifinals and 3-1 victory over Italy in a final match. In 2007, Italy won their maiden European title by beating Serbia 3-0 in a final match. At next European Championships, Italian team repeated this success after 3-0 victory over Netherlands in a final. In 2011, playing at home, Serbia managed to win their maiden European title after remarkable 3-2 victory over Germany in a final match which was held in Belgrade. The next two European Championships held in 2013 and 2015 were won by Russia who managed to beat home teams in the both final matches.
The 2017 European Championship took place in Azerbaijan and Georgia. The 2019 European Championship was co-hosted by Slovakia, Hungary, Poland and Turkey in 2019. Both tournaments were finished with Serbia's success who also won World Championships in 2018.
The 31 European Championship tournaments have been won by eight different nations. Russia have won nineteen times. The other European Championship winners are Serbia, with three titles; Germany, Italy and Poland, with two titles each; and Bulgaria, Czech Republic as and Netherlands, with one title each.
The current format of the competition involves a qualification phase, which currently takes place over the preceding two years, to determine which teams qualify for the tournament phase, which is often called the. 16 teams, including the automatically qualifying host nation, compete in the tournament phase for the title at venues within the host nation over a period of about two weeks. For the 2019 edition the number of participants in the was increased from 16 to 24.

Results summary

Total hosts

Medals summary

Participating nations

Team

2007

2009


2011


2013


2015


2017




2019
Total
•••••••1
•••••••3
12th12th9th15th14th4th10th8
16th15th•12th9th7th22nd9
7th11th•3rd6th14th9th10
11th8th14th13th13th9th8th29
9th10th8th10th11th12th•10
14th16th12th5th10th11th11th13
•••••••2
•••••••1
••••••23rd1
••••••18th3
8th14th10th8th••21st16
•••••16th•1
6th4th2nd2nd5th8th6th15
••••••14th5
••••12th15th20th17
••16th••••3
1st1st4th6th7th5th3rd25
•••••••3
5th2nd7th9th2nd2nd5th28
4th3rd5th11th8th10th4th30
••••••24th1
••12th•15th•13th25
3rd6th6th1st1st6th7th14
2nd7th1st4th3rd1st1st7
13th13th••••12th4
••••16th•16th2
15th9th11th16th••15th6
•••••••3
•••14th••19th4
10th5th3rd7th4th3rd2nd14
••15th••13th17th8

MVP by edition

Boldface denotes active volleyball players and highest medal count among all players per type.

Multiple gold medalists

RankPlayerCountryFromToGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1Natalya Morozova
199120015–16
1Yelena Tyurina
198920015–16
3Yelena Chebukina

1983199744–8
4Valentina Ogiyenko
198319954217
5Aleksandra Chudina1949195841–5
6Yevgeniya Artamonova199320014–15
6Yelizaveta Tishchenko199320014–15
8Nina Smoleyeva196719774––4
8Militiya Yeremeyeva 194919584––4
10Lyudmila Buldakova 1955197131–4
10Lyudmila Chernyshyova1975198131–4
10Irina Ilchenko
1987199331–4
10Nadezhda Radzevich 1975198131–4
10Tatyana Sidorenko
1985199731–4

Multiple medalists

The table shows those who have won at least 5 medals in total at the European Championships.
RankPlayerCountryFromToGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1Yelena Chebukina

1983199744–8
2Valentina Ogiyenko
198319954217
3Natalya Morozova
199120015–16
3Yelena Tyurina
198920015–16
5Yelena Godina199520073–36
6Aleksandra Chudina1949195841–5
7Yevgeniya Artamonova199320014–15
7Yelizaveta Tishchenko199320014–15
9Eleonora Lo Bianco199920092215
9Ariane Radfan
198319912215
9Ute Steppin
198319912215
12Irina Kirillova
1983199714–5