Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two players on a sand court divided by a net. As in indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side of the court, and to prevent the same effort by the opponent. A team is allowed up to three touches to return the ball across the net, and individual players may not touch the ball twice consecutively except after making a block touch. The ball is put in play with a serve—a hit by the server from behind the rear court boundary over the net to the opponents. The rally continues until the ball is grounded on the playing court, goes "out", or a fault is made in the attempt to return the ball. The team that wins the rally scores a point and serves to start the following rally. The four players serve in the same sequence throughout the match, changing server each time a rally is won by the receiving team.
The Fédération Internationale de Volleyball, commonly known by the acronym FIVB, is the international governing body for all forms of volleyball. Its headquarters are located in Lausanne, Switzerland and its current president is Brazilian Ary Graça.
Confederación Sudamericana de Voleibol (CSV) or Portuguese Confederação Sul-americana de Voleibol is the continental governing body for the sport of volleyball in South America. Its headquarters is located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The African Volleyball Confederation is the continental governing body for the sport of volleyball in Africa. Its headquarters are located in Cairo, Egypt.
The Asian Volleyball Confederation, commonly known by the acronym AVC, is the governing body for the sports of indoor, beach and grass volleyball in Asia and Oceania. It has 65 member countries, mostly located on the Asian and Australian continents, but excludes the transcontinental countries with territory in both Europe and Asia – Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia and Turkey – which are instead members of CEV. Three other states located along the western fringe of Asia – Armenia, Cyprus and Israel – are also CEV members.
The Greece men's national volleyball team is the national team of Greece. It is governed by the Hellenic Volleyball Federation and takes part in international volleyball competitions.
The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour is the worldwide professional beach volleyball tour for both men and women organized by the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB). The World Tour was introduced for men in 1989 while the women first competed in 1992.
The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships is the double-gender world championship for the sport of beach volleyball organized by the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) the sport's global governing body. The first official edition of the event was held in Los Angeles, United States in 1997 and tournaments had been awarded every two years since then. Before 1997, ten unofficial championships not organized by the FIVB were all held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil between 1987 and 1996. The most recent World Championships took place in Vienna, Austria in 2017.
The Australia women's national volleyball team, also known as Volleyball Team Australia Women (VTAW) or the Volleyroos, is the national volleyball team of the volleyball playing nation of Australia. As of January 2016, they are ranked 41st in the world. They are a member of the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC).
The volleyball tournaments at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro was played between 6 and 21 August. 24 volleyball teams and 48 beach volleyball teams, total 386 athletes, participated in the tournament. The indoor volleyball competition took place at Ginásio do Maracanãzinho in Maracanã, and the beach volleyball tournament was held at Copacabana Beach, in the temporary Copacabana Stadium.
Pakistan Volleyball Federation (PVF) is the national governing body to develop and promote the sport of Volleyball in the Country. The Federation was formed in 1955 and volleyball activities at the national level were taken up in an organized manner. PVF is affiliated with the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) and Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC).
Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas, Inc. is the current national governing body (NSA) for volleyball in the Philippines recognized by the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC), the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) and the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB).
The Australia Men's national volleyball team, also known as Volleyball Team Australia Men (VTAM) or the Volleyroos, is the national volleyball team of the volleyball-playing nation of Australia. As of August 2015, they are ranked 13th in the world. They are a member of the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC). Their best result came in 2007, when they won the Asian Men's Volleyball Championship.
Volleyball South Africa (VSA) is the governing body for volleyball in South Africa and is responsible for the administration of the South African national volleyball teams. VSA has been an affiliate of FIVB and CAVB since 1992. Its offices are located in Johannesburg, and its president is Anthony Mokoena.
The 2018 FIVB Volleyball Women's Challenger Cup was the inaugural edition of the FIVB Volleyball Women's Challenger Cup, a new annual women's international volleyball tournament contested by 6 national teams that acts as a qualifier for the FIVB Volleyball Women's Nations League. The tournament was held in Lima, Peru between 20 and 24 June.
The FIVB Volleyball Women's Nations League is an international volleyball competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), the sport's global governing body. The first tournament took place between May and July 2018, with the final taking place in Nanjing, China. United States won the inaugural edition, defeating Turkey in the final.
The FIVB Volleyball Men's Nations League is an international volleyball competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), the sport's global governing body. The first tournament took place between May and July 2018, with the final taking place in Lille, France. Russia won the inaugural edition, defeating France in the final. In July 2018, FIVB announced that USA would host the next three editions of the Men’s Volleyball Nations League Finals, from 2019–2021.
The FIVB Volleyball Women's Challenger Cup is an upcoming international volleyball competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), the sport's global governing body. The first tournamentis being played between 20 and 24 June, 2018 in Lima, Peru.
The FIVB Volleyball Men's Challenger Cup is an upcoming international volleyball competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), the sport's global governing body. The first tournament was played between 20 and 24 June, 2018 in Matosinhos, Portugal.
The 2019 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Cup was the 14th staging of the FIVB Volleyball Men's World Cup, contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), the sport's global governing body. The tournament was held in Japan from 1 to 15 October 2019. Japan played hosts for this event for the twelfth consecutive time since 1977.
