The 1975 European Women's Volleyball Championship took place in Yugoslavia from October 18-25. For the first time there were qualifying matches. The GDR team met the German selection in the preliminary round and in the end won the first German European Championship medal. The games were played in Belgrade , Rijeka , Banja Luka and Negotin . The Soviet Union won the title for the eighth time.
The twelve participants were divided into three groups of four in the preliminary round. The group winners and runners-up were combined into one group in the final round. In the mode “everyone against everyone” they determined the tournament winner. The remaining teams played for positions seven to twelve. Results from teams that met in the preliminary round were carried over to the final round.
Yugoslavia was set as the host. The top five teams from the 1971 European Championship were also automatically qualified. These were the Soviet Union as defending champions, the second Czechoslovakia , the third Poland , the fourth Bulgaria and the fifth Hungary .