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Sports

Volleyball

Two teams, one net, up to three touches a side: every rally ends in a point, so a volleyball match is easy to follow once you know how a set is won.

A volleyball evening

One path through the page, in order. Nothing is saved: it is only the order of this page's parts.

  1. Get it: how it works, in about 2 minutes.
  2. A final to watch: LIVE | ESTONIA vs. LATVIA | CEV U20 EuroVolley 2027 Men | Qualifiers | EEVZA | FINAL, on European Volleyball's own channel, played in YouTube's player on its page.
  3. The videogames: others about volleyball.

Get it

Answered from this page's own claims, words and competitions, word for word, with their sources. Nothing about your question is kept.

New to volleyball about 2 minutes

What you are watching

  • Two teams of six play on a court 18 m long and 9 m wide, split by the net into two halves of 9 by 9 m. Three players of each team stand along the net, the front row, and three behind them, the back row.1
  • The top of the net is set at 2.43 m for men and 2.24 m for women, the same heights indoors and on the beach.12
  • A team may touch the ball up to three times before sending it back over the net, and one player may not touch it twice in a row, except after a block. Indoors, a touch by the players blocking at the net is not one of the three.13

How a point is won

  • Every rally ends with a point for the team that wins it, whichever team served. This is called the rally point system.13
  • A team wins the rally when the ball lands on the other team's court, or when the other team makes a fault, such as a fourth touch, a caught ball, a touch of the net while playing the ball, or a ball hit out. A ball that touches a line is in.110
  • When the receiving team wins a rally, it also wins the serve, and its players move one position clockwise before serving.13

How a match is won

  • A set goes to the first team to reach 25 points with a lead of at least two. At 24–24, play goes on until one team is two points ahead: 26–24, 27–25 and so on.13
  • The first team to win three sets wins the match. If the sets stand at 2–2, a fifth set is played to 15 points, again with a two-point lead.13

What to watch for

  • A team's three touches usually run in order: a forearm pass, the dig; an overhead pass, the set; then the spike, the ball hit hard over the net.510
  • The player in a different colour is the libero, a defensive specialist who plays only in the back row and may not serve, block, or attack a ball that is entirely above the net.13
Following it about 4 minutes

From qualification to the final

  • At Paris 2024, 12 national teams per gender played the indoor tournament: the host, France, the top two of each of three Olympic qualification tournaments, and five more chosen by the FIVB world ranking. The beach tournament had 24 teams per gender, at most two from each country.12
  • In the men's tournament, the 12 teams first played in three pools of four. The top two of each pool and the two best third-placed teams reached the quarterfinals; from there the loser of each match was out, and the semifinal losers played for bronze and the winners for gold.13
  • The World Championship for national teams is held every two years, with 32 teams per gender: pool play first, then elimination rounds, semifinals and a final. From its 2027 edition it takes the name FIVB Volleyball World Cup, and in 2027 the top three teams of each gender not yet qualified win places at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.98

Rotation and the back row

  • When the ball is served, the receiving team must stand in its rotation order, positions 4, 3 and 2 along the net and 5, 6 and 1 behind; the serving team may stand anywhere on its court. The server is the player in position 1, at the back right.1
  • A back-row player may spike a ball from above the net only by taking off from behind the attack line, drawn 3 m from the centre line, though landing in front of it is allowed.13

How the beach game differs

  • A beach team is two players with no substitutes and no fixed positions. Sets go to 21 points, the first team to win two sets wins, and a third set, if needed, is played to 15.24
  • On the beach, a touch at the block counts as one of the team's three, and an attack placed with open-handed fingers is a fault.211
  • Beach teams change ends every 7 points in sets 1 and 2 and every 5 points in set 3. Each team has one 30-second time-out per set, and at FIVB events a technical time-out is added in sets 1 and 2 when the two scores add up to 21.24

The season

  • The Volleyball Nations League for national teams and the Club World Championships for men's and women's clubs are held every year. In 2025, 18 men's teams each played 12 pool matches over three weeks before the top eight went to the Finals; that edition ran from 11 June to 3 August.814
  • The Olympic Games come every four years. On the beach, the Beach Pro Tour runs through the year at three levels, Elite16, Challenge and Futures, with its own Finals, and the Beach Volleyball World Championships are held every two years.81511

Beach and indoor

Beach volleyball
Two players a side, barefoot on a 16 by 8 m sand court; it has been at the Olympic Games since Atlanta 1996.27
Indoor volleyball
Six players a side on an 18 by 9 m court; William G. Morgan invented the game in 1895, and it has been at every Summer Olympics since 1964.1610
The words
Rally
The play from the serve until the ball is out of play; whoever wins it scores a point.1
Side-out
Winning back the serve by winning a rally on the other team's serve.10
Rotation
The move of a team's players one position clockwise each time it wins back the serve.1
Libero
A back-row defensive specialist in a different colour; a team may name two, one on court at a time, and the libero's swaps with back-row players are not counted as substitutions.1
Dig
A forearm pass, usually a team's first touch, often used to keep a spike off the floor.510
Set
An overhead pass, usually the second touch, that puts the ball up for a hitter; the setter is the player who makes it and picks who attacks.510
Spike
The attack: the ball hit hard over the net, usually a team's third touch.510
Block
Front-row players at the net reaching above it to stop or turn the other team's attack; blocking a serve is not allowed.110
Ace
A serve that lands untouched, or that the first receiver cannot keep up for a teammate.10
Attack line
The line 3 m from the centre line that marks the front zone; back-row players must take off behind it to attack a ball above the net.1
Antenna
One of two striped rods, usually red and white, fixed to the net above the side lines; the ball must cross between them.1
Time-out
A 30-second break a team asks for: two per set indoors, one per set on the beach.12
Technical time-out
On the beach at FIVB events, an automatic 30-second break in sets 1 and 2 when the two scores add up to 21.2
Substitution
One player coming on for another: six per set indoors, and a starter may leave and come back only once a set, to the same place in the rotation; none on the beach.12

Sources

Facts from the governing body's pages are stated in this site's own words. The claims that cite Wikipedia are adapted (changed) from the cited articles, and those claims are offered under CC BY-SA 4.0.

  1. Official Volleyball Rules 2025-2028 (English, v05), FIVB (The official rules; nothing of it is copied here), read 2026-11-05
  2. Official Beach Volleyball Rules 2025-2028 (English, v01), FIVB (The official rules; nothing of it is copied here), read 2026-11-05
  3. Basic Rules (Volleyball), FIVB (© FIVB; facts stated in this site's own words), read 2026-11-05
  4. Basic Rules (Beach Volleyball), FIVB (© FIVB; facts stated in this site's own words), read 2026-11-05
  5. The Game (Volleyball), FIVB (© FIVB; facts stated in this site's own words), read 2026-11-05
  6. History (Volleyball), FIVB (© FIVB; facts stated in this site's own words), read 2026-11-05
  7. History (Beach Volleyball), FIVB (© FIVB; facts stated in this site's own words), read 2026-11-05
  8. FIVB Competitions (Volleyball), FIVB (© FIVB; facts stated in this site's own words), read 2026-11-05
  9. The FIVB Volleyball World Cup Takes the Sport Into a New Era (5 March 2026), FIVB (© FIVB; facts stated in this site's own words), read 2026-11-05
  10. Volleyball, Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), read 2026-11-05
  11. Beach volleyball, Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), read 2026-11-05
  12. Volleyball at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), read 2026-11-05
  13. Volleyball at the 2024 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament, Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), read 2026-11-05
  14. 2025 FIVB Men's Volleyball Nations League, Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), read 2026-11-05
  15. Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour, Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), read 2026-11-05
  16. volleyball (Q1734), Wikidata (CC0), read 2026-11-05

Watch

From the channels of volleyball's own rights holders: bodies whose Wikidata record names the sport, each checked by the rights holders' rule. Their videos play in YouTube's player, with YouTube's ads, on each video's own page once you press Play.

Times are in UTC.

  • SC-Potsdam e.V. Design Programmierung Agentur Medienlabor's channel appears here once its check completes.

Starting within 48 hours

Later

5 of the sport's videos and broadcasts are not shown where you are: their rights holders limit them to other countries on YouTube, and YouTube's region for each one decides.

From 2022—2026 ВК «Коммунальник-Могилев, Atlantide Pallavolo Brescia, CEV, FIVB, GƏNCƏ VOLEYBOL KLUBU, Hrvatski odbojkaški savez, Imoco Volley Conegliano, Libertas Brianza, Porto Robur Costa 2030, Rinascita Volley Lagonegro, Savino Del Bene Volley, Scottish Volleyball Association, to Israel Volleyball Association, TUTO Volley. Sivuston toteutus: Plakat.fi, Türkiye Voleybol Federasyonu | TVF, Volejbal Brno eSports.cz, s.r.o, Volley Tricolore, Volleyball Federation of Armenia, ČVS eSports.cz, s.r.o, Белорусская Федерация Волейбола, ⓒ KB INSURANCE STARS VOLLEYBALL CLUB, A.C. IONIKOS (its volleyball videos, by their own titles), Argentinos Juniors (its volleyball videos, by their own titles), ASC Göttingen von e.V (its volleyball videos, by their own titles), Belgrano (its volleyball videos, by their own titles), C. A. Huracán - Sitio Web Oficial (its volleyball videos, by their own titles), C. A. INDEPENDIENTE (its volleyball videos, by their own titles), Club Atlético Lanús (its volleyball videos, by their own titles), Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata (its volleyball videos, by their own titles), Club Deportivo Godoy Cruz Antonio Tomba | Sitio Oficial (its volleyball videos, by their own titles), Club Ferro Carril Oeste (its volleyball videos, by their own titles), Club Sporting Cristal (its volleyball videos, by their own titles), Dresdner Sportclub 1898 - Sport- und Bewegungsangebot in Dresden (its volleyball videos, by their own titles), Eintracht Frankfurt (its volleyball videos, by their own titles), Europske sveučilišne igre Zagreb-Rijeka 2016 (its volleyball videos, by their own titles), FC Barcelona Página Oficial del FC Barcelona (its volleyball videos, by their own titles), Flamengo (its volleyball videos, by their own titles), Fluminense Football Club (its volleyball videos, by their own titles), International University Sports Federation (its volleyball videos, by their own titles), İstanbul Voleybol Kulübü (its volleyball videos, by their own titles), North Dakota State (its volleyball videos, by their own titles), Ohio University (its volleyball videos, by their own titles), Panionios Official Website (its volleyball videos, by their own titles), Racing Club - Sitio Oficial (its volleyball videos, by their own titles), Rosario Central (its volleyball videos, by their own titles), Roter Stern Leipzig (its volleyball videos, by their own titles), Suomen Koripalloliitto ry (its volleyball videos, by their own titles), Turn- und Sport-Club Eintracht von 1848/95 Korporation zu Dortmund (its volleyball videos, by their own titles), University of Minnesota Athletics (its volleyball videos, by their own titles), University of Washington (its volleyball videos, by their own titles), VfL Oythe (its volleyball videos, by their own titles), Vince Ebert (its volleyball videos, by their own titles), Volleyball Ireland (its volleyball videos, by their own titles), XVIII Juegos Bolivarianos (its volleyball videos, by their own titles), Α.Σ. Άρης Θεσσαλονίκης | Επίσημη Ιστοσελίδα Συλλόγου (its volleyball videos, by their own titles), Αθλητική Ένωση Κωνσταντινουπόλεως (its volleyball videos, by their own titles), ΑΟΝΣ "Ο ΜΙΛΩΝ" - Αθλητικός Όμιλος Νέας Σμύρνης (its volleyball videos, by their own titles) and نادي الأسكندرية الرياضي (its volleyball videos, by their own titles).

From the world's archives: search their films for “volleyball”, which finds the films whose records hold the word, as each archive files them.

Play: the videogames

None of the site's own games is about volleyball.

Elsewhere

Videogames whose Wikidata record names volleyball as their sport or subject, as their records state them (read 2026-11-05). Information only: each links to its official page where its record names one. They are not played here.

Follow: what's on next

The next competitions, at the dates where they are held. Their dates are from their own Wikidata records. Add one to your calendar: the file is made here and nothing is asked of you.

Later, dates to come

The full calendar, national competitions included, is the FIVB's volleyball calendar.