Footvolley

Footvolley (Portuguese: Futevôlei, IPA: [futʃⁱˈvolej] in Brazil, Futevólei IPA: [ˌfutɨˈvɔlɐj] in Portugal) is a sport which combines aspects of beach volleyball and association football (also known as soccer in some English-speaking countries).

Footvolley World Cup - Mundial de Futevôlei

History

Footvolley was created in Brasil, by Octavio de Moraes, in 1965 in Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana Beach as a means for football players to be able to touch the ball without violating the formal football ban at the time. Players would bring a football; but opt for the volleyball courts when the police would come ask for their ball. The game of footvolley - first called 'pevoley', literally meaning "footvolley", that was discarded for "futevôlei". Footvolley started in Rio de Janeiro; however cities like Recife, Salvador, Brasília, Goiânia, Santos and Florianópolis have players who have been playing footvolley since the 1970s.

Teams of footvolley had five a side initially. Due to the skill level of the then footvolley athletes (nearly all were professional football players); the ball would rarely drop. Thus, the players began lowering the number of players on each side, eventually settling on 2 versus 2, which is still in use today.

In recent years, professional football players have taken up footvolley in both promotional events and celebrity matches. Some notable Brazilian footballers who have played (or still play) footvolley are: Romário, Edmundo, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho Gaúcho, Júnior, and Edinho (1982 & 1986 National Team).

Rules

Footvolley combines field rules that are based on those of beach volleyball with ball-touch rules taken from Association football. Essentially footvolley is beach volleyball except players are not allowed to use their hands and a football replaces the volleyball.

International Rules

Points are awarded if the ball hits the ground in the opponents' court, if the opponents commit a fault, or if they fail to return the ball over the net. Scoring is done using the rally point system (new volleyball rules). Match scoring is usually up to the event organizer's discretion. Generally speaking matches are one set to 18 points; or best of three sets to 15 points (with third set to 11 points). The court is 29.5 feet x 59 ft (old beach volleyball). The height of the net varies based on the competition. The Official International Rule for the net height set is 2.2 meters or 7 feet 2 inches for the men's competition. For the women's competition, the height of the net should be set at 2 meters or 6 feet 6 inches.

Pro Footvolley Tour Rules

The rules in the United States professional tour (Pro Footvolley Tour) are designed to make the matches faster and more aggressive. Some of the notable differences are: net height of 2.10 Meters; 2-pointers are awarded up to 3-times maximum per set for all shots scored with the foot when one foot goes above the head when striking the ball and the other foot is off the ground (bikes, matrix kicks, etc.).

International growth

Since the sport's inception in Brasil, footvolley has spread and gained popularity internationally, including Europe, the United States, and Asia. The very first international footvolley event held outside of Brazil was sponsored by the United States Footvolley Association in March 2003. This relatively small event is what kick-started the international growth of the sport.

Major events have been held at many beach cities in countries around the world, including Spain, Portugal, Greece, United Arab Emirates, France, the Netherlands, Aruba, Thailand, South Africa, Paraguay, etc. as well its native Brazil.

United States of America

In the United States there is a professional league. The 'Pro Footvolley Tour' holds events primarily in the Spring and Summer months in Florida, Virginia (Virginia Beach), and California. The professional tour is regulated by the United States Footvolley Association (the National Governing Body) which is also responsible for international athlete selection and the sport's development domestically.

In 2011, Sergio Menezes & Igor Martins won the first two events. Then in Virginia Beach (2011), AJ & Nelson 'Canela' Santa Cruz took the title away from Adrian Boente/Fernando Plentz. Next came the 2011 Seaside Heights Open presented by Bud Light Lime which was won by upstarts Karl Meneghisso & Luke Roque. The same duo faced Menezes/Salvador in Santa Barbara (CA) two weeks later and finished the year with two titles.

The 2012 Bud Light Lime Pro Footvolley Tour season has begun. Meneghisso & Roque have remained on top winning the first two events.

Paraguay

Paraguay is the first world champion of footvolley. The Paraguayan Jesús is considered the best player in the World Championship.

Brazil

In the history of footvolley, Brasília (the capital of Brazil) has the highest number of high quality players nowadays. This city has played a big role on bringing the best players in the sport's history. Since the 1990s there have been great players like Gabriel, Xeleleu, Jansen de Oliveira, Ramiro, Betola, Edinho, Hugão and Luisinho who are till today in activity and besides their admired carriers, they also taught and raised on the field children that are today deemed to be the biggest names of players in the history of footvolley: Belo, Marcelinho, Mário, Café, Diego, Lana (in female and unisex footvolley) and others.

Those won almost all of the worldwide footvolley championships around the globe at this date.

United Kingdom

In April 2006 the England Team accompanied football legends John Barnes and Niall Quinn to a tournament in Pattaya, Thailand organized by the Thai Footvolley Federation.

In 2007 the 2 events held were the Muller Rice Open in Croyde, and the Lamisil Once Footvolley Open in Brighton. Dirceu & Luigui were champions at both events, maintaining their unbeaten record and David & Gary, the England Footvolley Team No. 1 pair won the Shield Competition.

Israel

Footvolley was first played in Israel in 2003 when a few beach boys named Yossi Golan, Amir Zohar, Oshri Cohen, Shalom Michaelshvili and more, learnt the exciting game from two Brazilian soccer players who played for Israeli teams. It was in 2007 that Corona in Israel got involved in footvolley, establishing the first footvolley ordinary league already in 2008. It was also the organizers of the league that invented the Hebrew name pronounced "Footsievolley" (Hebrew: פוצ'יוולי‎) to be used exclusively for the game played in their league and other events.

Corona FootVolley League, so far the one and only ordinary footvolley league in the world, is played since 2008 every summer starting in May/June until the final four in September/October with 14 teams and 13 league rounds in the Premium league and 12 teams playing 10 rounds in the Masters league.

In 2009 Corona FootVolley European Tour was established inviting teams from Europe to play in Israel. In 2011 Corona FootVolley European Tour was upgraded to Corona FootVolley World Tour inviting teams from all over the world to play.

Corona FootVolley Winter Cup, a one day tournament, is also played in Israel every February since 2010.

Italy

The first FOOTVOLLEY ITALIA TOUR was in 2008 when a group of friends from Ravenna organized the event. In the 2008 and 2009 won the team Mazzieri-Gianferri,in 2010 won Mordenti-Mazzavillani,in 2011 and 2012 again Mazzieri-Montanari,in 2013 won Mazzotti-Arrigoni. Normally the tour is in the months of June,July and august and the tournaments that compose the tour are 4-5 a year. In Italy are used the international rules:court 9mtx9mt and the net 2,20mt. From two years is organized in cesena in august an important and very excited European tournament(spiaggia 23 club) where the best European players have participated. The town where there are more footvolley players in Italy are Cervia,Cesena,Pescara,Savona,Pisa and Rome. The most important Italian players in this years are Mazzieri,Mimola,Montanari,Mordenti,Bini,Pasino,Mazzotti,Roma,Arrigoni,Catapane,Ghirotti,Gianferri???,Mazzavillani,Galli,Pacileo,Severi,Sinopia,Antoniacci,Minghetti

Australia

Footvolley Australia (FVA) is the first peak body responsible for footvolley in Australia. FVA was founded in 2007 in the Northern Beaches of Sydney, Australia. The organisation was formed to establish, guide and promote footvolley in Australia. The sport has a lot of promise in Australia because of its beautiful coastline with golden sands on which to play footvolley. The FVA are working on the development of the practice of footvolley by organising Footvolley Experience sessions for newcomers to the sport; footvolley education and coaching across Australia; the National Footvolley Tour; and participation in international competitions, all of which will improve the performance of Australian Footvolley athletes. Footvolley Australia is working with relevant international associations, especially in the Asia and Oceania region, to promote the growth of the game to Olympic level.

External links

• Footvolley Rimini
• International Footvolley Federation (FIFV)
• European Footvolley Federation
• Asia and Oceania Footvolley Confederation (AOFC)
• Footvolley Italia
• World's Best Compete
• Pro Footvolley Tour
• Footvolley Pro Circuit Spain
• Swiss Footvolley Federation
• Footvolley Holland
• Footvolley Amsterdam
• Footvolley Groningen
• Footvolley Belgium
• UK Footvolley Association
• German Footvolley Federation
• Footvolley Federation Portugal
• Yellowave Beach Sports
• Pepsi Footvolley
• Footvolley Croatia
• Israeli Footvolley Association
• Norwegian Footvolley Association
• Iran Footvolley Association
• Footvolley Australia
• Footvolley South Africa