The Azerbaijan women's national volleyball team has started a European Championship with three consecutive victories for only the second time in its history.
As reported by İdman.Biz, Azerbaijan defeated Romania 3-2 (25:21, 25:23, 15:25, 22:25, 15:8) on August 24 in their third Group C match of EuroVolley 2026, with the group matches being held in Baku.
Faig Garayev's team had previously beaten Portugal 3-1 and Spain 3-0. Three victories have allowed Azerbaijan to secure a place in the round of 16 with two group matches still to play.
The only previous occasion when Azerbaijan made such a successful start came at EuroVolley 2017, which the country co-hosted with Georgia. Playing in Baku, the national team defeated Hungary 3-0, Poland 3-0 and Germany 3-1 to win its group with a perfect record of three victories from three matches.
Azerbaijan went on to reach the semi-finals of that tournament and eventually finished fourth. This remains the national team's best result at the European Championships. Azerbaijan has finished fourth twice – on its EuroVolley debut in Croatia in 2005 and at the home tournament in 2017.
The next-best starts came at EuroVolley 2005 and EuroVolley 2019, when Azerbaijan won two of its opening three matches.
The national team's European Championship history dates back to 2005. Its most difficult starts came at EuroVolley 2013, EuroVolley 2015 and EuroVolley 2021, when Azerbaijan lost each of its first three matches.
Azerbaijan still has two matches remaining in the EuroVolley 2026 group stage. Garayev's team will face Belgium on August 26 before completing the group stage against the Netherlands on August 28.
