Italy and the Netherlands make it to Paris 2024 Olympic Games, three European teams seal ticket for the Nations League quarter-finals

As the preliminary phase of the 2024 FIVB Women's Volleyball Nations League, seven teams joined hosts Thailand to the final round of the competition, with three European teams making the cut – reigning European champions Türkiye, Poland and Italy.

Moreover, two other European teams, Italy and the Netherlands, joined the 12-team line-up for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, as two of the highest-placed team in the FIVB World Ranking not yet qualified upon the end of the FIVB Volleyball Nations League 2024 Women Preliminary Phase.

In total, six European teams will be present at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, with Türkiye, Poland, hosts France and Serbia, which were already qualified, being joined by Italy and the Netherlands.

Week 3 of the Preliminary Phase, which saw the 16 teams taking part in the 2024 FIVB Women's Volleyball Nations League was scheduled last week in two pools, one played in Hong Kong, while the other was hosted by Fukuoka, Japan.

With everything on the line, Italy delivered a pitch perfect week, finishing with four wins out of four matches, 3:0 against Canada, 3:0 against the Republic of Korea, 3:1 against the United States of America and 3:1 against Serbia, to cement their status as the second-placed team in the standings, which subsequently secured a ticket for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Opposite spiker Ekaterina Antropova, who also shined at the CEV EuroVolley 2023 Women, was also superb in two matches this week, scoring 18 points against Serbia and 20 against Korea to lift Italy to the second place in the Preliminary Phase standings, just behind Brazil, which completed the 12 matches without a hitch, having a 100% record and only nine sets dropped.

Poland’s unblemished record before the start of the third week was broken, as the European side lost two of their four matches, 1:3 against leaders Brazil and 0:3 against the People’s Republic of China, as they finished third in the standings, conceding six of their eight lost sets in the last four matches.

Finishing with two losses, 2:3 against China and 0:3 against Brazil was not what Türkiye envisioned, especially as they had previously lost two other matches, but in the end the European champions secured a place in the knockout phase, with eight wins and four losses.

The MVP of the CEV EuroVolley 2023 Women, Melissa Vargas thoroughly dominated the top scorer standings, with 254 points, including 31 against China and 13 against Brazil, 18 points more than Canada’s Kiera van Ryk and 39 more than Japan’s Sarina Nishida Koga.

With only one loss, 0:3, against the USA, the Netherlands was the last team to make it to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games via the FIVB World Ranking not yet qualified upon the end of the FIVB Volleyball Nations League 2024 Women Preliminary Phase.

Wins against Serbia (3:1), Canada (3:0) and Korea (3:0) sealed the deal for the Dutch side, which will miss the Final Phase of the FIVB Volleyball Nations League 2024 Women, having finished eighth, with the same number of wins, seven, as the USA, but with one point less, 21, as opposed to 22.

The Final Phase will start on 20 June, in Bangkok, where there will be a sure-fire European side in the semi-finals, as Poland and Türkiye will meet in one of the quarter-finals.

Italy face the USA, while China and Japan are also facing off in another quarter-final, while unbeaten Brazil look big favourites against Thailand. 

The winner of the FIVB Volleyball Nations League 2024 Women will be decided in the final scheduled on 23 June.