The Italians heaped praise on them: "Santarelli is king once again." The victory of the "Queens of the Court" in the European press

The Turkish Women’s National Volleyball Team faced Italy in the final of the 2026 CEV Women’s European Volleyball Championship. The “Queens of the Net,” who won the match 3-2, became European Champions for the second time in a row.

Giovanni Guidetti—who previously coached our National Team and is now the head coach of the Canadian National Team and VakıfBank—did not miss the opportunity to ask Santarelli a question as a commentator on DAZN.

In response to Guidetti’s remarks—“Congratulations on the victory and the trophy. You built a team consisting of four equally skilled No. 4 players, and you knew from the start that this would be Turkey’s strength”—Santarelli replied:

“You know them better than I do. (Laughing) Since you know each of their strengths, you understand why I made these choices. You know we needed more balance without throwing the team’s offense too far off-balance. In the final, I had to shuffle the deck a bit because things weren’t going as I’d hoped against Italy. I asked for a little more sacrifice from some players, like Orge. As for Cebecioğlu, he’s like a wild horse—he needs to be reined in a bit, but he has extraordinary shots on offense, and he proved it. I’m very happy for him because he joined the national team on August 1. Still, everyone contributed today. The players who came off the bench also did their best; I think I played all the cards I had. Sometimes you make the right decisions, sometimes you don’t; today, aside from the sets we lost, things went well.”

Here are some other headlines about Santarelli in his home country of Italy:

IL Gazzettino: Daniele Santarelli is king once again: Imoco’s head coach led Turkey to the European Championship title for the second time in a row.

This time, Daniele Santarelli broke Italy’s “taboo” and, in a tiebreaker where he ultimately demonstrated his superiority, repeated his 2023 success; but above all, he took his revenge against Velasco’s national team (which later won the world championship), which had claimed the trophy in last year’s world championship final in Thailand. The Prosecco Doc A.Carraro Imoco Conegliano club, meanwhile, took to social media to extend its first congratulations to its “King Midas,” who added yet another trophy to his long list of victories. Congratulations were also extended to the “panthers” Sarah Fahr and Merit Adigwe, who returned from Istanbul with silver medals around their necks. Coach Santarelli managed to make the most of the home-court advantage this time: at the Sinan Erdem Sports Hall in Istanbul, in front of over 16,000 spectators cheering exclusively for the “Sultans” in a spine-tingling, sold-out atmosphere, he read the match well (after losing the first set 16–25 and the third set 12–25) and neutralized the Italian team’s attacks, boosting the performance of Melissa Vargas (26 points, named MVP) and middle blocker Zehra Güneş (12 points and 6 blocks, selected for the European Championship’s All-Tournament Team). This tactical victory brought him one step closer to becoming the world’s best volleyball coach.

Almost a year after Bangkok, the outcome of the final was reversed this time. On September 7, 2025, Italy defeated Turkey 3–2 in the World Championship final to win the world title. Then, on September 6, 2026, in Istanbul, Santarelli’s team emerged victorious in the match that decided the European championship. With this success, as previously noted, Daniele Santarelli led Turkey to its second European Championship title in history—following the 2023 victory—making it the fifth national team to win the continental title in front of its home crowd, after Bulgaria in 1981, East Germany in 1983, the Netherlands in 1995, and Serbia in 2011. This also ended the streak in which the last four finalists had all lost the tournament’s final match while playing as the host team.

Santarelli also won his second consecutive European championship: The head coach of Prosecco Doc has now tied Massimo Barbolini—who won back-to-back gold medals with Italy in 2007 and 2009—and joined the ranks of head coaches who have led their teams to back-to-back European championships in recent years. This victory also secured Turkey a direct spot in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games; this will mark the Turkish National Team’s fourth Olympic appearance, following those in 2012, 2020, and 2024. Since Santarelli’s contract is set to expire in 2028, following the conclusion of the Olympics, he will once again take the helm as head coach of the “Sultans” (given the Turkish Federation’s great admiration for the Foligno-born head coach, barring any changes that currently seem unlikely).

Daniele Santarelli’s list of achievements thus continues to grow with trophies. A lot of time has passed since 2010; that year, at the age of 29, he began his coaching career as an assistant coach at Snoopy Pesaro in Serie B2. The following year, he began working as an assistant coach at Robusport Pesaro and experienced the top league for the first time. After joining Davide Mazzanti’s coaching staff, his career gained significant momentum at Casalmaggiore: his first championship. Then came his time in Conegliano: one year as an assistant coach, one year as an associate coach, and then, in 2017, he was promoted to head coach.

And from that moment on, the “King Midas” Santarelli era began at Prosecco DOC, marked by 8 league championships, 7 Italian Cups, 7 Italian Super Cups, 3 Club World Cups, and 3 Champions League titles. At the same time, his career with national teams also took off rapidly. As head coach of the Croatian national team, he won two silver medals in the European Golden League, then led Serbia to a world championship title and a bronze medal in the VNL. With Turkey, he won the European Championship, the Nations League, and the World Cup in 2023 alone, followed by a silver medal at last year’s World Championship. After winning the gold medal at the 2026 VNL, she secured her second European championship title, following her victory three years prior.

Rai News: The head coach from Foligno and coach of Imoco Volley Conegliano has won his second consecutive European Championship. Umbria also played a part in Turkey’s victory at the Women’s Volleyball European Championship. The man behind this victory is Foligno-born head coach Daniele Santarelli; after defeating Italy in a five-set comeback, Santarelli secured his second consecutive European championship. Santarelli has now matched Massimo Barbolini, who won back-to-back gold medals with Italy in 2007 and 2009. The set scores were 25-16, 22-25, 25-12, 21-25, and 10-15. This success also earned the Turkish women’s volleyball team a spot at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

II Sole 24 Ore: Turkey Becomes European Champion in Women’s Volleyball. Italy, coached by Julio Velasco, lost to the national team led by head coach Daniele Santarelli in a tie-break set during the final match played in Istanbul, thereby missing out on its third consecutive title following victories at the 2024 Paris Olympics and last year’s World Championship.

This marked Daniele Santarelli’s second consecutive European championship. The Italian head coach thus tied Massimo Barbolini—who led Italy to back-to-back gold medals in 2007 and 2009—and joined the ranks of head coaches who have successfully defended the European title in two consecutive tournaments in recent years. This victory also secured Turkey a direct spot in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games. This means the Turkish national team will be competing in the Olympics for the fourth time, following appearances in 2012, 2020, and 2024.