Fédération Internationale de Volleyball
Encyclopedia
The Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (International Federation of Volleyball), commonly known by the acronym FIVB, is the international governing body
for the sport of indoor
, beach
and grass volleyball
.. Its headquarters
are located in Lausanne
, Switzerland
and its current president is Wei Jizhong .
, France
in 1947. In the late 1940s, some of the European national federations began to address the issue of creating an international governing body for the sport of volleyball. Initial discussions eventually lead to the installation of a Constitutive Congress in 1947. Fourteen national federations representing five different continents attended the meetings where, between April 18 and 20, the entity was officially formed, having Frenchman
Mr. Paul Libaud as first president.
One of the main goals of the 1947 Congress was achieved two years later with the establishment of the first international major volleyball event, the World Championship
. In 1952, a women's version of the tournament was also introduced.
In 1964, the IOC
endorsed the addition of volleyball to the Olympic program. By this time, the number of national federations affiliated to the FIVB had grown to 89. Later in that year (1969), a new international event, the World Cup
was introduced. It would be turned into a qualifying event for the Olympic Games
in 1991.
Following the retirement of Mr. Libaud and the election of Mexican
Mr. Rubén Acosta Hernandez for the position of president in 1984, the FIVB moved its headquarters from Paris
, France
to Lausanne
, Switzerland
and intensified to an unprecedented level its policy of promoting volleyball on a worldwide basis. Measures taken in this direction include the establishment of annual competitions for men's and women's volleyball (the World League, in 1990, and the Grand Prix, in 1993), the indication of Beach volleyball
as an Olympic event (1996) and a number of changes in the rules of the game with the purpose of enhancing public visibility.
On 19 June 2008, Mr. Wei Jizhong of China
was elected as the third president in the history of the FIVB during the 31st FIVB World Congress in Dubai
, United Arab Emirates
. The handover of the presidency took place on 24 August 2008 in Beijing
.
, the FIVB counted 220 affiliated national federations.
such as the IOC. This involves defining qualification procedures and competition formulae for tournaments, as well as more specific details such as player line-up and replacement restrictions, venues and hosts.
Amongst others, the FIVB organizes the following international volleyball tournaments:
and the following international youth volleyball tournaments:
The FIVB also participates directly in the organization of continental volleyball events which have an attached international significance, such as Olympic and World Championship continental qualification tournaments.
Another relevant area of concern is the promotion of volleyball in a worldwide scale. Part of the FIVB's activities in this area consists in attracting media partners and sponsors through negotiation of commercial rights for broadcasting and coverage of major events.
The FIVB also maintains extensive special programmes aimed at the advance of world volleyball. This includes the constitution of development centers in areas where the sport is still unpopular, as well as support (in instruction and equipment) for organizations that fail to meet the quality standards required on an international level.
As reported by Olympic news outlet Around the Rings, the FIVB recently launched a new "FIVB Heroes" promotion in Rome. The campaign uses billboards, posters and statues of the top beach volleyball players situated around the city to enhance visibility and profiles of the athletes.
The FIVB is responsible for the standardization of volleyball rules. In recent years, many changes were implemented in connection with its promotional and marketing vision, in an alleged attempt to improve public visibility and make the sport comply to the demands of sponsors and media organizations. These changes range from ingenuous, almost commonplace restrictions, such as the
obligation of a "fashionable" uniform - meaning tight clothing, supposed to be more appealing to the audience because it makes players bodies salient -, to very drastic changes in the format of competitions (e.g., the rally-point system).
The FIVB is the ultimate international authority in volleyball, and judges (or is involved at least to some degree in the judgement) issues such as doping, regulation of player transfer, nationality changes and gender determination. It also publishes the FIVB World Rankings
, used as basis for seeding in international competitions.
The FIVB has a very comprehensive and extensive administrative structure, consisting of a Board of Administration, an Executive Committee and a number of commissions and councils dealing with specific volleyball matters such as medicine, referees, tournaments and finance.
The FIVB also presides over five continental confederations:
Asian Volleyball Confederation
(AVC) in Asia
and Oceania
Confederación Sudamericana de Voleibol
(CSV) in South America
Confédération Africaine de Volleyball
(CAVB) in Africa
Confédération Européenne de Volleyball
(CEV) in Europe
North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation
(NORCECA) in North America
Each continental confederation, by its turn, presides over a number of national federations located in its domain of action.
Sport governing body
A sport governing body is a sports organization that has a regulatory or sanctioning function. Sport governing bodies come in various forms, and have a variety of regulatory functions. Examples of this can include disciplinary action for rule infractions and deciding on rule changes in the sport...
for the sport of indoor
Volleyball
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.The complete rules are extensive...
, beach
Beach volleyball
Beach volleyball, or sand volleyball, is an Olympic team sport played by two teams of two players on a sand court divided by a net.Like volleyball, the object of the game is to send the ball over the net in order to ground it on the opponent’s court, and to prevent the same effort by the opponent....
and grass volleyball
Volleyball
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.The complete rules are extensive...
.. Its headquarters
Headquarters
Headquarters denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the top of a corporation taking full responsibility managing all business activities...
are located in Lausanne
Lausanne
Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
and its current president is Wei Jizhong .
History
The FIVB was founded in ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
in 1947. In the late 1940s, some of the European national federations began to address the issue of creating an international governing body for the sport of volleyball. Initial discussions eventually lead to the installation of a Constitutive Congress in 1947. Fourteen national federations representing five different continents attended the meetings where, between April 18 and 20, the entity was officially formed, having Frenchman
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
Mr. Paul Libaud as first president.
One of the main goals of the 1947 Congress was achieved two years later with the establishment of the first international major volleyball event, the World Championship
Volleyball World Championship
The FIVB World Championship is an international men's and women's indoor volleyball competition. It is the oldest and most important of all the international events organized by the FIVB and must not be confused with the FIVB World Cup or the FIVB World League/FIVB World Grand Prix.-Origins:The...
. In 1952, a women's version of the tournament was also introduced.
In 1964, the IOC
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee is an international corporation based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin on 23 June 1894 with Demetrios Vikelas as its first president...
endorsed the addition of volleyball to the Olympic program. By this time, the number of national federations affiliated to the FIVB had grown to 89. Later in that year (1969), a new international event, the World Cup
Volleyball World Cup
The FIVB World Cup is a men's and women's volleyball competition. Created in 1965 and 1973 , it is an international qualification event for the Olympic Games...
was introduced. It would be turned into a qualifying event for the Olympic Games
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
in 1991.
Following the retirement of Mr. Libaud and the election of Mexican
Mexican people
Mexican people refers to all persons from Mexico, a multiethnic country in North America, and/or who identify with the Mexican cultural and/or national identity....
Mr. Rubén Acosta Hernandez for the position of president in 1984, the FIVB moved its headquarters from Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
to Lausanne
Lausanne
Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
and intensified to an unprecedented level its policy of promoting volleyball on a worldwide basis. Measures taken in this direction include the establishment of annual competitions for men's and women's volleyball (the World League, in 1990, and the Grand Prix, in 1993), the indication of Beach volleyball
Beach volleyball
Beach volleyball, or sand volleyball, is an Olympic team sport played by two teams of two players on a sand court divided by a net.Like volleyball, the object of the game is to send the ball over the net in order to ground it on the opponent’s court, and to prevent the same effort by the opponent....
as an Olympic event (1996) and a number of changes in the rules of the game with the purpose of enhancing public visibility.
On 19 June 2008, Mr. Wei Jizhong of China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
was elected as the third president in the history of the FIVB during the 31st FIVB World Congress in Dubai
Dubai
Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...
, United Arab Emirates
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...
. The handover of the presidency took place on 24 August 2008 in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
.
, the FIVB counted 220 affiliated national federations.
FIVB presidents
Paul Libaud (1947-1984) Rubén Acosta Hernandez (1984-2008) Wei Jizhong (2008-present)Activities
The FIVB's main activity is worldwide planning and organization of volleyball events, sometimes in conjunction with other international governing bodiesSport governing body
A sport governing body is a sports organization that has a regulatory or sanctioning function. Sport governing bodies come in various forms, and have a variety of regulatory functions. Examples of this can include disciplinary action for rule infractions and deciding on rule changes in the sport...
such as the IOC. This involves defining qualification procedures and competition formulae for tournaments, as well as more specific details such as player line-up and replacement restrictions, venues and hosts.
Amongst others, the FIVB organizes the following international volleyball tournaments:
- Olympic GamesVolleyball at the Summer OlympicsVolleyball has been contested as an indoor sport at the Summer Olympic Games since 1964. Beach volleyball was introduced at the 1992 Games, and has been an official Olympic sport since 1996.-Origins:...
- World Championship
- World Cup
- World Grand Champions Cup
- World League (Men)
- World Grand Prix (Women)
- Club World Championship
- Swatch World Tour (Beach Volleyball)Swatch FIVB World TourThe Swatch FIVB Beach Volley World Tour is an intercontinental beach volleyball tour....
and the following international youth volleyball tournaments:
- Men's Junior World Championship (U21)
- Women's Junior World Championship (U20)
- Boys' Youth World Championship (U19)
- Girls' Youth World Championship (U18)
The FIVB also participates directly in the organization of continental volleyball events which have an attached international significance, such as Olympic and World Championship continental qualification tournaments.
Another relevant area of concern is the promotion of volleyball in a worldwide scale. Part of the FIVB's activities in this area consists in attracting media partners and sponsors through negotiation of commercial rights for broadcasting and coverage of major events.
The FIVB also maintains extensive special programmes aimed at the advance of world volleyball. This includes the constitution of development centers in areas where the sport is still unpopular, as well as support (in instruction and equipment) for organizations that fail to meet the quality standards required on an international level.
As reported by Olympic news outlet Around the Rings, the FIVB recently launched a new "FIVB Heroes" promotion in Rome. The campaign uses billboards, posters and statues of the top beach volleyball players situated around the city to enhance visibility and profiles of the athletes.
The FIVB is responsible for the standardization of volleyball rules. In recent years, many changes were implemented in connection with its promotional and marketing vision, in an alleged attempt to improve public visibility and make the sport comply to the demands of sponsors and media organizations. These changes range from ingenuous, almost commonplace restrictions, such as the
obligation of a "fashionable" uniform - meaning tight clothing, supposed to be more appealing to the audience because it makes players bodies salient -, to very drastic changes in the format of competitions (e.g., the rally-point system).
The FIVB is the ultimate international authority in volleyball, and judges (or is involved at least to some degree in the judgement) issues such as doping, regulation of player transfer, nationality changes and gender determination. It also publishes the FIVB World Rankings
FIVB World Rankings
The FIVB World Rankings is a ranking system for men's and women's national teams in volleyball. The teams of the member nations of FIVB, volleyball's world governing body, are ranked based on their competitions results with the most successful teams being ranked highest...
, used as basis for seeding in international competitions.
Other events
The FIVB is also responsible for the volleyball games at some regional competitions as:- Asian GamesVolleyball at the Asian GamesVolleyball for men is played at the Asian Games since 1958 in Tokyo, Japan. Women event is played since 1962 in Jakarta, Indonesia.-Men:-Women:-Men:-Women:-Men:-Women:...
- Pan American GamesVolleyball at the Pan American GamesVolleyball for both men and women is played at the Pan American Games since 1955, when the second edition of the multi-sports event was staged in Mexico City, Mexico.-Men's Winners:-Medal Table:-Women's Winners:-Medal Table:...
- Lusophony GamesVolleyball at the Lusophony GamesVolleyball at the Lusophony Games was first held in the first edition in Macau, in 2006 when three teams in each men and women's competitions played. Portugal, Macau and India participated in male competition and Portugal, Macau and East Timor took part in women's competitions.-Men's...
- Commonwealth Games
- All-Africa GamesVolleyball at the All-Africa GamesVolleyball has been an All-Africa Games event since the first edition in 1965 in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo.- Results : A round-robin tournament determined the final standings.- Medal table :- Results :- Medal table :- Men :...
Organization
The FIVB also presides over five continental confederations:
Asian Volleyball Confederation
Asian Volleyball Confederation
Asian Volleyball Confederation is the continental governing body for the sport of volleyball in Asia.- Profile :The Asian Volleyball Confederation was established on May 6th, 1952, and since then AVC has become one of the largest continental volleyball associations in the world, with its member...
(AVC) in Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
and Oceania
Oceania
Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...
Confederación Sudamericana de Voleibol
Confederación Sudamericana de Voleibol
Confederación Sudamericana de Voleibol or Portuguese ' is the continental governing body for the sport of volleyball in South America. Its headquarters are located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.- Profile :The CSV's origins are still under dispute...
(CSV) in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
Confédération Africaine de Volleyball
Confédération Africaine de Volleyball
Confédération Africaine de Volleyball is the continental governing body for the sport of volleyball in Africa. Its headquarters are located in Cairo, Egypt.- Profile :...
(CAVB) in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
Confédération Européenne de Volleyball
Confédération Européenne de Volleyball
Confédération Européenne de Volleyball is the continental governing body for the sport of volleyball in Europe. Its headquarters are located in Luxembourg, Luxembourg.- Profile :...
(CEV) in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation
North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation
The North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation is an incorporated, non-profit organization responsible for all volleyball activities that take place in its zone. NORCECA is the continental confederation that represents its thirty-five member countries at the International...
(NORCECA) in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
Each continental confederation, by its turn, presides over a number of national federations located in its domain of action.