Nathalie Lemmens – two EuroVolleys in Azerbaijan with different success, but the same friendly people

Nathalie Lemmens is not only the most experienced player on the Belgian team competing at CEV Trendyol EuroVolley 2026, but she is also the record holder for the most caps with the Belgian national team jersey. Playing in Pool C in Baku, she added another five matches to round it up to 190 and since Belgium won their pool undefeated and advanced to the eighthfinals, Lemmens is about to further increase that number very soon.

The 1.92m-tall middle blocker played her first European Championship back in 2017 and it was also in Azerbaijan. Playing in the pool in Ganja, Belgium lost all their three matches and had to leave the competition early, but now, it’s a different story. Belgium have won all their five matches in Pool C in Baku and Lemmens was an important contributor to that success. She and the team’s star captain Britt Herbotts are the only players from the EuroVolley 2017 squad, who returned to Azerbaijan for EuroVolley 2026. 31-year-old Lemmens has competed at every single European Championship since then, so the one taking place right now is her fifth in a row.

In her successful club career, Lemmens has played for teams in Belgium, Germany, France, Hungary, Romania, Italy and Poland, but she is about to make a major change, leaving Europe behind and transferring to the United States to compete in the Major League Volleyball for Omaha Supernovas.

Before the Belgian team said good-bye to Baku to travel to Istanbul for the EuroVolley playoffs, Nathalie Lemmens took the time to answer cev.eu’s questions.

Your first European Championship was here in Azerbaijan several years ago. What are your best memories from that event?

Nathalie Lemmens (NL): I remember the people were always very kind and friendly. Everyone was helping us out all the time. I'm very much a people person, so this is usually what I remember. And this is what I will take with me. I think we didn't have our best European Championship then, but it was definitely my first taste of the European Championship as a young girl. And I remember being here very excited and playing with a lot of fun. And now, to come back here is really nice. I feel that from that moment until now, we have improved a lot. We have a very structured, organized team. And to see now the young girls shine at their first European Championship, is also really nice.

So, if you compare the championship now to that in 2017 in Azerbaijan, what are the differences that you see?

NL: We were in another city then, and now we are in Baku, we are in the capital, which for sure brings you a lot more atmosphere. And you can see that every year everything improves, the teams improve, but also the CEV, the structure, everything improves... And well, every year it's organized better. It's putting the teams out there, showing them to the world. So, yeah, it's very nice. It's always nice to play a CEV EuroVolley, actually.

And you've been to every single EuroVolley since then, right?

NL: Yes. The last one that we played was in Belgium, in our country, and then we had all our fans, all our home country with us, which was amazing. To be here now in Azerbaijan, and to play them in front of their own crowd was also really nice, because you know how that feeling is for them. And it can really lift you up. So, for that, we also knew it would be a hard game for us. This EuroVolley until now is a lot of fun, because we are doing very well, and we have won all the games so far.

You are the record holder for number of caps played for Belgium. Does that make you feel as a leader of the team?

NL: Yes. Well, definitely with a lot of experience you can lead the team in certain ways. Of course, we have our captain, our leader. She is the face of the team. But we have many leaders in the team and everyone in their special role as a leading girl. And everyone is performing their role very well. And I hope that with my experience I can also lead the girls by example through a good European Championship.

How would you comment on the team's performance at this European Championship so far?

NL: Good. We had a rough start (a 3-2 win over Spain), but usually the first games come with a little bit of stress before we find our way. But now we’ve found our rhythm. We won the next three games by 3–0, so I think we are in good shape. We have now reached our goal and, from now on, we can actually play free, because we will probably start facing teams that are above us in the World Ranking, and we actually like to play as the underdog. Yes.

In your club career, you played in some of the best leagues in Europe, but now you're heading to the States, right? Why did you make that decision and what are your expectations?

NL: Yes, it's very fun, very new... In the last years, I’ve always been in Europe, playing in the best leagues, which was a lot of fun. Now I'm ready to do something new, an adventure in the States. And I hope that there I can also put myself on the map, while having fun as well. And who knows if I come back or not, but I'm very excited for my future in the States.

Would you like to add anything as a conclusion?

NL: Yes – that I'm very proud of everyone of my team. As one of the oldest girls, I know how hard and how much pressure it can be sometimes, but I'm very proud of them, and also of the young girls, because they also came in in the last matches and changed the game.