The Brazilian women’s volleyball team’s dream of winning its first Nations League title will have to wait. On Sunday (Jul. 26) in Macau, China, Brazil lost to Türkiye 3–1 (25–23, 23–25, 24–26, 21–25) after surrendering the opening set, settling for its fifth runner-up finish in the competition. The final was a rematch of the bronze-medal match at the Paris Olympics, where Brazil had defeated Türkiye.

This time, however, Türkiye came out on top, powered by the outstanding performance of opposite hitter Melissa Vargas. The Cuban-born, naturalized Turkish player scored 33 points on attacks to lead her team to its second Nations League title - its first came in 2023 - and to top it off, she won the tournament’s MVP award.

Notícias relacionadas:

• Brazil’s Gabriel Araújo wins Laureus, world’s top sports award.
• Brazil to award 10,885 sports grants this year.

Italy won the Nations League bronze medal after beating China 3–1 (25–16, 23–25, 25–22, 25–13). The Italians had been eliminated by Brazil on Saturday (26).

For Brazil, Ana Cristina (25 points) and Rosamaria (19) led the team’s scoring effort.

With today’s defeat, the Brazilians have now secured five silver medals in the tournament - the previous ones came in 2025, 2022, 2021, and 2019.

“There’s that feeling that we could have given just a little more - it’s normal. Considering the adversities we faced, there was fight, determination, and tremendous commitment. Some players are emerging, we lost some key players along the way, and now we have to look ahead to the future, to the South American Championship,” said coach José Roberto in an interview with the Brazilian Volleyball Confederation (CBV).

In this tournament, the national team took the court without key starters such as outside hitter Gabi (rested due to lower back discomfort), opposite hitter Tainara, and middle blocker Julia Kudiess - both of whom were sidelined by injuries - as well as libero Nyeme, who is on maternity leave.

Brazil’s next competition will be the South American Championship, held from September 8–13 at Maracanãzinho Gymnasium in Rio de Janeiro. The winning team will earn a spot at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.