Portal:Volleyball

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The Volleyball Portal

Volleyball is a 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. Beach volleyball was introduced to the program at the Atlanta 1996 Summer Olympics. The adapted version of volleyball at the Summer Paralympic Games is sitting volleyball.

The complete set of rules is extensive, but play essentially 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 three times to return the ball to the other side of the court, but individual players may not touch the ball twice consecutively. Typically, the first two touches are used to set up for an attack. An attack is an attempt to direct the ball back over the net in such a way that the team receiving the ball is unable to pass the ball and continue the rally, thus, losing the point. The team that wins the rally is awarded a point and serves the ball to start the next rally. A few of the most common faults include: (Full article...)

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General articles

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The CEV U22 Volleyball European Championship is a volleyball competition for men's national teams with players under the age of 22 years, currently held biannually and organized by the European Volleyball Confederation, the confederation for Europe. (Full article...)
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The men's tournament in volleyball at the 2024 Summer Olympics was the 16th edition of the event at the Summer Olympics, organised by the world's governing body, the FIVB, in conjunction with the IOC. It was held in Paris, France from 27 July to 10 August 2024. This was the first time in the history of the Olympic volleyball competition, each team participating was entitled to include one non-competing (AP) athlete to replace an athlete for medical reasons.

France won its second straight title by defeating Poland (3–0) in the gold medal match. The United States defeated Italy (3–0) in the bronze medal match. (Full article...)
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The 2021 FIVB Men's Volleyball Nations League was the third edition of the FIVB Men's Volleyball Nations League, an annual men's international volleyball tournament. The 2021 version of VNL was scheduled to start earlier than the previous edition due to the 2020 Summer Olympics in July. The competition was held between May and June 2021, and the final round took place in Rimini Fiera, Rimini, Italy.

Brazil claimed their first VNL title after beating Poland in four sets. France swept Slovenia in three sets and grabbed the bronze medal. Both Wallace de Souza from Brazil and Bartosz Kurek from Poland named as MVPs of the tournament. (Full article...)
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The 2023 FIVB Women's Volleyball Nations League was the fifth edition of the FIVB Women's Volleyball Nations League, an annual Women's international volleyball tournament. The competition was held between 30 May to 16 July 2023, and the final round took place at College Park Center, Arlington, Texas, United States.

Following the results of 2022 Nations League and 2022 Challenger Cup, Belgium were replaced by debutants Croatia in this edition. (Full article...)
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The Women's European Volleyball Championship is the official competition for senior women's national volleyball teams of Europe, organized by the European Volleyball Confederation (CEV). The initial gap between championships was variable, but since 1975 they have been awarded every two years. The current champion is Turkey, which won its first title at the 2023 tournament. (Full article...)
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The men's tournament in volleyball at the 2016 Summer Olympics was the 14th edition of the event at the Summer Olympics, organised by the world's governing body, the FIVB, in conjunction with the IOC. It was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from 7 to 21 August 2016.

Brazil won the gold medal after a 3–0 win over Italy. The United States defeated Russia 3–2 to win the bronze medal. (Full article...)
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The Slovenian Women's Volleyball League or 1A. DOL ženske is a women's volleyball competition organized by the Volleyball Federation of Slovenia. It was established in 1991. (Full article...)
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The men's qualification for the Olympic volleyball tournament took place between September 2023 and June 2024, allocating twelve teams for the final tournament. As the host nation and the reigning Olympic champions, France reserved a direct spot each for the men's team.

The remainder of the twelve-team field endured a dual qualification pathway to secure the quota places for Paris 2024. First, the winners and runners-up from each of the three Olympic qualification tournaments qualified directly for the Games. Second, the last five berths were attributed to the eligible NOCs based on the FIVB World Rankings in June 2024, abiding by the universality principle, that was, prioritizing those from the continents without a qualified team yet in the Paris 2024 tournament. (Full article...)
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The following teams and players took part in the women's volleyball tournament at the 1980 Summer Olympics, in Moscow. (Full article...)
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This article shows the roster of all participating teams at the 2021 FIVB Volleyball Women's Nations League. (Full article...)
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The qualification for the 2016 Men's Olympic Volleyball Tournament was held from 8 September 2015 to 5 June 2016. Twelve teams qualified, the hosts, the FIVB World Cup champions and runners-up, five continental Olympic qualification tournament champions and four teams from two World Olympic qualification tournaments. Teams already qualified for the event were not eligible to play in the following qualification tournaments. (Full article...)
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Volleyball at the 1980 Summer Olympics was represented by two events. It was held at the Minor Arena of the Central Lenin Stadium and at the Druzhba (Friendship) Multi-Purpose Arena of the Central Lenin Stadium, both located at Luzhniki (south-western part of Moscow). The schedule started on July 20 and ended on August 1. (Full article...)
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The BVA Cup (Balkan Volleyball Association Cup) is a volleyball competition contested by the respective national volleyball championship winning teams of nations in the Balkans. The tournament was founded in 2008 under the auspices of the Balkan Volleyball Association. The founders of the Balkan Volleyball Association are the volleyball federations of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Turkey. The winners of the BVA Cup get the right to play in the CEV Challenge Cup. The tournament is held in September and October. (Full article...)
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The Swiss Men's Volleyball Ligue 1 is a men's volleyball competition organized by the Swiss Volleyball Federation (Swiss Volley), it was created in 1957. (Full article...)
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Beach volleyball was introduced at the Summer Olympic Games in the 1992 Games as a demonstration event, and has been an official Olympic sport since 1996.

Winning the Olympics is considered to be the highest honor in international beach volleyball, followed by the World Championships, and the World Tour of the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) for men and women. (Full article...)
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The FIVB Volleyball Boys' U17 World Championship is the world championship of volleyball for male players under the age of 17 organized by Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB).

The FIVB U17 World Championship for both genders was proposed by the FIVB Volleyball Council and unanimously approved by the FIVB Board of Administration during its meeting held in March 2022. (Full article...)
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The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), founded in 1938, is the governing association of community college, state college and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 separate regions across 24 states and is divided into 3 divisions. (Full article...)
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The 2022 FIVB Women's Volleyball Challenger Cup was the third edition of the FIVB Women's Volleyball Challenger Cup, an annual women's international volleyball tournament contested by eight national teams that acts as a qualifier for the FIVB Women's Volleyball Nations League. The tournament was held at Krešimir Ćosić Hall in Zadar, Croatia, between 28 and 31 July 2022.

Four teams made their first appearance in the women's Challenger Cup in this edition: Belgium, Cameroon, France and Kazakhstan. (Full article...)
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The Finnish Women's Volleyball League is a women's volleyball competition organized by the Finnish Volleyball Federation (Suomen Lentopalloliitto Ry-SLRY), it was created in 1956. (Full article...)
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The women's tournament in volleyball at the 2024 Summer Olympics was the 16th edition of the event at the Summer Olympics, organised by the world's governing body, the FIVB, in conjunction with the IOC. It was held in Paris, France from 28 July to 11 August 2024. This was the first time in the history competition, each team participating was entitled to include one non-competing (AP) athlete to replace an athlete for medical reasons. As such, team rosters increased from 12 to 13 athletes. (Full article...)
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This article shows the roster of all the participating teams at the 2024 FIVB Women's Volleyball Nations League. (Full article...)
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Volleyball has been part of the Summer Olympics program for both men and women consistently since 1964.

Brazil, France, the United States and the former Soviet Union are the only teams to win multiple gold medals at the men's tournament since its introduction. The remaining six editions of the Men's Olympic Volleyball Tournament were won each by a different country including Japan, Poland, Netherlands, Russia and the defunct Yugoslavia. (Full article...)
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This article shows all participating team squads at the 1999 FIVB Women's World Cup, held from November 2 to November 16, 1999 in several cities in Japan. (Full article...)

Did you know (auto-generated)

... that voice actress Mako Morino played volleyball for 14 years, but gave up the goal of playing professionally after being assigned to the non-serving libero position?
... that Turkish carom billiards champion Güzin Müjde Karakaşlı grew up playing volleyball for about 12 years?
... that three first-team All-Americans – Logan Eggleston, Zoe Fleck, and Asjia O'Neal – played on the University of Texas's NCAA volleyball championship team in 2022?
... that the USC Trojans team that won the 2022 NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship had been compared to the Marvel Comics' Avengers?
... that Canadian pentathlon champion J. Howard Crocker introduced volleyball to China?
... that volleyball player Madisen Skinner beat Texas in one national championship final – then won two national championships with Texas?

International volleyball

Selected volleyball images

Image 1Tactics: Receiving serve
Image 2Volleyball positions
Image 3Team handshake at a Polish volleyball match
Image 4Play in progress: International match Italy vs. Russia, 2005
Image 5Tactics: Jump serve
Image 6Tactics: Team practising passing
Image 7Tactics: Kill against three blockers
Image 8Volleyball scoreboard (United States)
Image 9Play in progress: The "set" (second contact), Iran vs. Japan, Olympic qualification match 2016
Image 10Play in progress: Final of the Volleyball French Cup, 2013
Image 11Variants; World footvolley championships, 2010
Image 12Play in progress: The attack or "spike"
Image 13Tactics: Defence
Image 14An official signals "ball out"
Image 15Tactics: The "libero" (defence player)
Image 16Tactics: Serve
Image 17Volleyball court
Image 18Variants: Sitting volleyball at the 2012 Paralympics
Image 19Variants: Beach volleyball at the 2016 Rio Olympics

Current and recent events

2019 Asian Championship – Men's • Women's
2019 European Championship – Men's • Women's
2019 South American Championship – Men's • Women's
2019 FIVB World Cup – Men's • Women's
2019–20 CEV Champions League (Women's) • CEV Cup (Women's) • CEV Challenge Cup (Women's)
2020 Olympics • 2020 Paralympics
2020 Women's U19 Volleyball European Championship
2020 FIVB Nations League Men's • Women's

Volleyball terms

Ace : A serve which lands in the opponent's court without being touched, or is touched, but unable to be kept in play by one or more receiving team players.
Assist : Usually the second of a team's three contacts, an assist is awarded for any set ball that results in a kill on the ensuing attack.
Attack : Usually the third of a team's three contacts, an attack is any attempt by the offense to score a point against the defense (this does not include free balls or over-passes).
Stack Blocking : A blocking strategy where the front row players start close to each other at the center of the net, leaving space for swing blocking out to the pins.
Cut / Cut shot : attack with an extreme angle (nearly parallel to the net).
Dig : A defensive contact following an opponent's attack resulting in a playable ball.

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For editor resources and to collaborate with other editors on improving Wikipedia's Volleyball-related articles, see WikiProject Volleyball.

Volleyball leagues

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All volleyball articles arranged by "category" (see Category)

General

People and organizations

Volleyball players (about 3,700 entries)
Lists of volleyball players
Volleyball coaches
Volleyball clubs (about 950 entries)
FIVB - the world governing body
Volleyball organizations

Media

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Beach volleyball images

The following are images from various beach volleyball-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1US 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. (from Beach volleyball)
Image 2Olympics 2016 tournament (from Beach volleyball at the Summer Olympics)
Image 3Dalhausser and Rogers celebrate their gold medal win in 2008 with George W. Bush (from Beach volleyball at the Summer Olympics)
Image 4The USC Trojans women's beach volleyball team poses with the National Championship trophy after winning the inaugural 2016 NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship. (from Beach volleyball)
Image 5Beach volleyball players at the Outrigger Canoe Club in Hawaii, ca. 1915 (from Beach volleyball)
Image 6Public beach volleyball courts in Santa Monica, where the modern two-man version originated. (from Beach volleyball)
Image 7A women's match at the 2017 Hermosa Beach Open, one of the tournaments in the AVP tour. (from Beach volleyball)
Image 8Ágatha Bednarczuk embraces the home crowd after the 2016 final. (from Beach volleyball at the Summer Olympics)
Image 9A player hand sets the ball (from Beach volleyball)
Image 10A beach volleyball game between members of President Harry S. Truman's vacation party at Key West, Florida in 1950 (from Beach volleyball)
Image 11Horse Guards Parade beach volleyball stadium at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London (from Beach volleyball)
Image 12Open-handed tips/dinks are not allowed. Players may instead use their knuckles to attack the ball for a "pokey" shot. (from Beach volleyball)
Image 13Germany's Sara Goller (left) and Laura Ludwig with blue kinesio tape. (from Beach volleyball)
Image 14Officials keep score during a beach volleyball match at the 2017 Canada Summer Games (from Beach volleyball)
Image 15Phil Dalhausser attempts to block Fábio Luiz Magalhães's attack (from Beach volleyball)
Image 16The Horse Guards Parade hosted the 2012 tournament. (from Beach volleyball at the Summer Olympics)
Image 17Two 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. (from Beach volleyball)
Image 18Natalie Cook and Kerri Pottharst at the 2000 tournament. (from Beach volleyball at the Summer Olympics)
Image 19Brazil's Maria Antonelli making a forearm pass, also known as a bump (from Beach volleyball)
Image 20Mikasa VLS300, official ball for the 2017 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour (from Beach volleyball)
Image 21A linesman signals that a ball is "in" (from Beach volleyball)
Image 22Brazil'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 (from Beach volleyball)
Image 23A beach volleyball match at the 2008 Summer Olympics (from Beach volleyball)
Image 24Dancers during a match at the 2012 FIVB Moscow Grand Slam (from Beach volleyball)
Image 25A player jump serving (from Beach volleyball)
Image 26Unlike 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. (from Beach volleyball)
Image 27A beach volleyball game in Tanna, Vanuatu (2009) (from Beach volleyball)
Image 28A beach volleyball referee determines if a fault has been committed. (from Beach volleyball)
Image 29Unlike indoor volleyball, a touch off the block counts as one of the three allowed touches. (from Beach volleyball)

Recognized content

Featured lists

List of Olympic medalists in volleyball

Good articles

Quality image

Quotes

And in the most profound place where land, sea and sky are one - there ye shall play volleyball. – Simon Munnery
Ambiguity — the Devil's volleyball. – Emo Philips

Sports portals

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v t e International beach volleyball
FIVB World Ranking Achievements by nation Records and statistics Olympic Games World Championships U21 U19 World Beach Games Youth Olympics
Asia and Oceania	AVC – Asian Championship – Asian Games – Asian Beach Games
Africa	CAVB – African Championship – African Games – African Beach Games
Europe	CEV – European Championships U22 U20 U18
North America	NORCECA – NORCECA Circuit – Central American Games – Central American & Caribbean Games
South America	CSV – South American Circuit – South American Games – South American Beach Games
Others	Commonwealth Games Mediterranean Games Beach Games Pacific Games Pan American Games
Discontinued	FIVB World Tour Major Series FIVB World Championships U23 U19 U17 Summer Universiade

v t e International men's youth volleyball
Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) World Ranking Youth Olympic Games U23 World Championship (defunct) U21 World Championship U19 World Championship U17 World Championship
Africa	CAVB Under-23 Under-21 Under-19 Under-17
Americas	NORCECA & CSV Under-23 Under-21 Under-19
Asia & Oceania	AVC Under-23 Under-20 Under-18 Under-16
Europe	CEV Under-22 Under-20 Under-18 Under-17 Small Countries Division Junior EYSOF
North America	NORCECA Under-21 Under-19 Under-17
South America	CSV Under-23 Under-21 Under-19 Under-17

v t e International women's youth volleyball
Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) World Ranking Youth Olympic Games U23 World Championship (defunct) U21 World Championship U19 World Championship U17 World Championship
Africa	CAVB Under-23 Under-20 Under-18 Under-17
Americas	NORCECA & CSV Under-23 Under-20 Under-18
Asia & Oceania	AVC Under-23 Under-20 Under-18 Under-16
Europe	CEV Under-22 Under-20 Under-18 Under-17 Small Countries Division Junior EYSOF
North America	NORCECA Under-20 Under-18 Under-17
South America	CSV Under-22 Under-20 Under-18 Under-16