Portal:Volleyball

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Introduction

Volleyball is a popular team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summer Olympic Games since Tokyo 1964.

The complete rules are extensive, but simply, play proceeds as follows: a player on one of the teams begins a 'rally' by serving the ball (tossing or releasing it and then hitting it with a hand or arm), from behind the back boundary line of the court, over the net, and into the receiving team's court. The receiving team must not let the ball be grounded within their court. The team may touch the ball up to 3 times, but individual players may not touch the ball twice consecutively. Typically, the first two touches are used to set up for an attack, an attempt to direct the ball back over the net in such a way that the serving team is unable to prevent it from being grounded in their court.

Selected general articles

The South American Women's Volleyball Club Championship is an international women's club volleyball competition organized by the Confederación Sudamericana de Voleibol (CSV), the sport's governing body in South America. The competition was first contested in 2009 in Lima, Peru and tournaments have been held every year since then.

In addition to crowning the South American champions, the tournament also serves as a qualifying tournament for the FIVB Volleyball Women's Club World Championship. Read more...
The Euro Millions Volley League (formerly Volleyliga Belgium and Ethias Pro League) is the top flight in men's volleyball in Belgium. The league is organized by the Royal Belgian Volleyball Federation. Noliko Maaseik is the most successful club of the Volleyliga with 15 national titles since 1991.[1] The first Volleyliga was played in 1944–45 and won by Léopold Club.

The regular season is played by 10 teams, playing each other twice, once at home and once away from home. After the regular season, the six best-placed teams enter the play-offs, the first-placed team starting with five points, the second-placed with four, the third-placed with three, the fourth-placed with two and the fifth-placed with one. The last four teams enter the play-downs, the seventh-placed team of the regular season starting the play-downs with three points, the eighth-placed team with two and the ninth-placed team with one. The play-offs end with a final to the best of five, with the team finishing first of the play-offs having the home advantage. Read more...
Volleyball for men is played at the Asian Games since the 1958 edition in Tokyo, Japan. Women event is played since the 1962 edition in Jakarta, Indonesia. Read more...
The V.League 1 is the top-level volleyball league for both men and women in Japan. The league started in 1994.

The competitions are organized by the Japan Volleyball League Organization. In 2006 the name V.League was changed to V.Premier League. In 2018 the name V.Premier League was changed to V.League 1. Read more...
The Liga de Voleibol Superior Femenino (LVSF) is a professional volleyball league in Puerto Rico. The competitions are organized by the Puerto Rican Volleyball Federation (Federación Puertorriqueña de Voleibol, FPV). Read more...
Beach volleyball was introduced at the 1998 Central American and Caribbean Games in Maracaibo, Venezuela. Read more...
Volleyball has been a Pan Arab Games event since the second edition in 1957 in Beirut, Lebanon. Read more...
The Boys' Youth European Volleyball Championship is a sport competition for volleyball national teams with players under 19 years, currently held biannually and organized by the European Volleyball Confederation, the volleyball federation from Europe. Read more...
The FIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup is an international volleyball competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), the sport's global governing body. Initially the tournament was played in the year following the Olympic Games, but since 1991 the World Cup has been awarded in the year preceding the Olympic Games. The current champion is China, which won its fourth title at the 2015 tournament.

The current format of the competition involves 12 teams, including the automatically qualifying host nation Japan, competing in the tournament phase for the title at venues within the host nation over a period of about two weeks. The World Cup (with exception of the 2019 edition) acts as the first qualification event for the following year's Olympic Games with the top two teams qualifying. Read more...
The Tunisian Women's Volleyball League is the highest level of women's volleyball in Tunisia and it is organized by Tunisian Volleyball Federation. The League is currently contested by 10 clubs.

The regular season is played by 10 teams, playing each other twice, once at home and once away from home. After the regular season, the four best-placed teams enter the play-offs and the last six teams enter the play-out. Read more...
The Asian Men's U23 Volleyball Championship is an international volleyball competition in Asia and Oceania contested by the under 23 men's national teams of the members of Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC), the sport's continent governing body. Tournaments have been awarded every two years since 2015. The tournament doubled as the World Championship qualifiers, where the top 2 teams qualified for the FIVB Volleyball Men's U23 World Championship.

The current champion is Iran, which won its second title at the 2017 tournament in home soil. Both tournaments have been won by Iran. Read more...
The FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship is an international volleyball competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), the sport's global governing body. The initial gap between championships was variable, but since 1962 they have been awarded every four years. The current champion is Poland, which won its third title at the 2018 tournament defending the championship title.

The current format of the competition involves a qualification phase, which currently takes place over the preceding three years, to determine which teams qualify for the tournament phase, which is often called the World Championship Finals. 24 teams, including the automatically qualifying host nation(s), compete in the tournament phase for the title at venues within the host nation(s) over a period of about a month. Read more...
The Men's Pan-American Volleyball Cup is a men's volleyball tournament organized by NORCECA. Initially, only NORCECA teams participated, but CSV teams have been invited since 2010. The event qualified for World League. He also qualified for the America's Cup. Now, the event serves as an America qualifier for the Pan American Games classification. The women have their own equivalent of the tournament, the Women's Pan-American Cup. Read more...
The FIVB Volleyball Boys' U19 World Championship, called the FIVB Volleyball Boys' Youth World Championship between 2007 and 2011, is the world championship of volleyball for male players under the age of 19 organized by Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB).

The first edition was staged in 1989 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and tournaments have been played every two years since then. The most recent tournament was hosted by Bahrain in the city of Riffa and won by Iran. Read more...
Cyprus Volleyball Division 1 is the top level volleyball league in Cyprus. The league is organised by the Cyprus Volleyball Federation since 1978. The league is contested by 9 teams. Read more...
The Albanian Volleyball League is the top flight professional volleyball league competition in Albania, which currently features 7 clubs in 1 division. The league was founded in 1946, shortly after the formation of the Albanian Federation of Volleyball (FSHV) and it has remained the top flight men's volleyball competition in the country ever since. Dinamo Tirana have won the most championship titles with 25, but they have won just 2 titles since 1991, as Studenti have become the dominant club in the country, winning 13 titles out of a possible 18 since 2000.

The league currently consists of 9 clubs in 1 division, but other formats have been used such as a division consisting of 7 clubs, as well as 2 divisions consisting of 12 clubs. Having started in 1946, it is one of the oldest and longest running volleyball competitions Balkans, and the sport experiences its peak in popularity during the Communist era in the 70s and 80s. Since the fall of communism in Albania in 1991 many volleyball clubs struggled to remain active due to a lack of funding, which led to the decline in the popularity of the sport as a whole in the country. However, since 1993 there has been some re-establishment of clubs that had previously folded, as private investment along with some state funded has allowed some of these clubs to continue functioning. Read more...
The Tunisian Volleyball League is the highest level of men's volleyball in Tunisia and it is organized by Tunisian Volleyball Federation. Tunisia Volleyball League is currently contested by 10 clubs.

The regular season is played by 10 teams, playing each other twice, once at home and once away from home. After the regular season, the four best-placed teams enter the play-offs and the last six teams enter the play-out. Read more...
The Divizia A1 is the women's top Romanian professional volleyball league. Read more...
The Iranian Super League (ISL) is a professional volleyball league in Iran at the top of the Iranian volleyball league system. It was founded in 1975 as the Pasargard Cup, but after the Iranian Revolution it was renamed to the first Division. In 1997 the league system was revamped and the Iranian Super League was established. Paykan Tehran has won the most titles in the new Super League with 12 titles. Read more...
Volleyball for both men and women has been played at the Central American and Caribbean Games since 1930, when the second edition of the multi-sports event was staged in Havana, Cuba. Read more...
The CEV Cup is the second top official competition for men's Volleyball clubs of Europe and takes place every year.

Until 2000, it was the CEV Cup Winners' Cup. In 2000 it was renamed CEV Top Teams Cup and in 2007 it was renamed CEV Cup.
The former CEV Cup was renamed to CEV Challenge Cup. Read more...

Did you know...

... that while on hiatus from her beach volleyball career, Sanne Keizer completed a master's degree in criminal investigation and worked as a police detective?
... that volleyball player Chen Zhaodi, who was nicknamed "One-armed General" despite having two arms, became an actual general after retiring from her volleyball career?
... that Italian beach volleyball player Viktoria Orsi Toth did not like her sport at first, describing it as "some kind of a daily torture"?
... that with the USC Trojans, beach volleyball player Sara Hughes won 103 consecutive matches and 2 NCAA Championships?
... that Emma Wiggs, a gold medallist in paracanoe at the 2016 Paralympics, competed at the 2012 Paralympics as a sitting volleyball player?

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Selected images

Dancers during a match at the 2012 FIVB Moscow Grand Slam
A player making a forearm pass or bump
A player making a jump serve
A player jump serving
Horse Guards Parade beach volleyball stadium at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London
Japanese American women playing volleyball, Manzanar internment camp, California, ca. 1943
A women's match at the 2017 Hermosa Beach Open, one of the tournaments in the AVP tour.
An image from an international match between Italy and Russia in 2005. A Russian player on the left has just served, with three men of his team next to the net moving to their assigned block positions from the starting ones. Two others, in the back-row positions, are preparing for defense. Italy, on the right, has three men in a line, each preparing to pass if the ball reaches him. The setter is waiting for their pass while the middle hitter with no. 10 will jump for a quick hit if the pass is good enough. Alessandro Fei (no. 14) has no passing duties and is preparing for a back-row hit on the right side of the field. Note the two liberos with different color dress. Middle hitters/blockers are commonly substituted by liberos in their back-row positions.
Officials keep score during a beach volleyball match at the 2017 Canada Summer Games
Player making a service at the 2014 Asian Games
Beach volleyball players at the Outrigger Canoe Club in Hawaii, ca. 1915
Mikasa VLS300, official ball for the 2017 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour
Public beach volleyball courts in Santa Monica, where the modern two-man version originated.
Brazil's Emanuel Rego signals for an "angle" block for the opposing player on the left and a "line" block for the opposing player on the right
Footvolley World Cup - Mundial de Futevôlei
United States and Brazil have won most of the Olympic medals of beach volleyball. Picture shows Juliana Silva (left) of Brazil, with Kerri Walsh (center) and Misty May-Treanor of the United States at the 2011 FIVB Moscow Grand Slam.
Unlike indoor volleyball, beach volleyball is played on soft sand which makes it safer for players to dive. Picture shows Nick Lucena of the United States diving to "dig" the ball.
A beach volleyball match at the 2008 Summer Olympics
A scene of playing Volleyball of the village Naldahari in India
A sepak takraw ball made out of rattan
An unofficial mixed doubles match of beach volleyball
A beach volleyball referee determines if a fault has been committed.
Player going for a dig
A linesman signals that a ball is "in"
Sepak takraw court diagram
The USC Trojans women's beach volleyball team poses with the National Championship trophy after winning the inaugural 2016 NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship.
Scorer's table just before a game
Volleyball court
Buddhist monks play volleyball in the Himalayan state of Sikkim, India.
Typical volleyball action.
Unlike indoor volleyball, a touch off the block counts as one of the three allowed touches.
U.S. women's team doing team planning
US women's team has cited several advantages to bikini uniforms, such as comfort while playing on sand during hot weather. Photo shows US national team players (Jennifer Fopma (left) and Brooke Sweat) in their uniforms.
Rotation pattern
A beach volleyball game between members of President Harry S. Truman's vacation party at Key West, Florida in 1950
Phil Dalhausser attempts to block Fábio Luiz Magalhães's attack
A nudist/naturist volleyball game at the Sunny Trails Club during the 1958 Canadian Sunbathing Association (CSA) convention in British Columbia, Canada
Footvolley in Rio de Janeiro.
A player hand sets the ball
Open-handed tips/dinks are not allowed. Players may instead use their knuckles to attack the ball for a "pokey" shot.
Brazil's Maria Antonelli making a forearm pass, also known as a bump
Three players performing a block (a.k.a. triple block)
William G. Morgan
A beach volleyball game in Tanna, Vanuatu (2009)
Two opposing players simultaneously contact the ball above the net with open hands, known as a "joust". The receiving team is entitled to another three contacts.
Men's sitting volleyball match between a combined US Navy-Coast Guard team and the US Army
White is on the attack while red attempts to block.
Jump set
A Spanish player, #18 in red outfit, about to spike towards the Portuguese field, whose players try to block the way
Germany's Sara Goller (left) and Laura Ludwig with blue kinesio tape.
Netherlands versus Japan women's match at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London