The Turkish national team will be without one of its main outside hitters at EuroVolley 2026. Efe Mandıracı will not participate in the championship due to a health problem, the Turkish Volleyball Federation officially confirmed.
According to information from the federation, Mandıracı has been experiencing problems with his right shoulder since the club season. After the treatment and subsequent examinations, it was determined that the shoulder has not recovered to the necessary level and there is still partial damage to muscle groups. The prognosis is that the 24-year-old volleyball player will need about six more weeks for full recovery.
For this reason, he has been released from the national team camp and will continue his treatment and rehabilitation with his club team Galatasaray, with whom he signed a contract this summer.
Mandıracı's absence is also interesting from a Bulgarian perspective. Bulgaria and Turkey could meet as early as the EuroVolley Round of 16, as in this phase, teams from our Group B cross over with those from Group D.
Bulgaria is in Group B in Sofia along with Poland, Ukraine, Portugal, Israel, and North Macedonia, while Turkey will play in Group D in Cluj-Napoca with Romania, Latvia, France, Germany, and Switzerland.
The first four teams from each group advance to the knockout stage. In the Round of 16, the first-place team from Group B will meet the fourth-place team from D, the second-place team will meet the third-place team, the third-place team will meet the second-place team, and the fourth-place team will meet the winner of Group D. Thus, depending on the final standings in both groups, Bulgaria and Turkey could become direct rivals as early as the first knockout round.
However, Turkey has already shown this season that they can achieve results even without Mandıracı. The team reached the final tournament of the Nations League in Ningbo, where they were eliminated in the quarterfinals by Slovenia with 0:3 (21:25, 33:35, 37:39).
The Turks are also a direct competitor to Bulgaria in the world rankings. Currently, our national team occupies ninth place with 272.25 points, while Turkey is immediately behind them in tenth position with 268.49 – a difference of just 3.76 points.
Thus, the performance of the two teams at EuroVolley will be interesting for Bulgaria not only because of the possibility of a direct clash in the knockout stages, but also because of the battle between them in the world rankings. It is through these rankings that the last three quotas for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games will be distributed – among the three highest-ranked teams that have not yet secured participation by other means. Qualification for these three quotas will be determined after the end of the preliminary phase of VNL 2028.

photo: Nikolay Varadinov