Welcome to the website
of the Finnish Volleyball Association!

The Finnish Volleyball Association is one of biggest national sport federations in Finland and a member of the Finnish Sports Federation (SLU). It's also a member of the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) which has 219 member countries.

HISTORY OF VOLLEYBALL & BEACH VOLLEY

• Sport Instructor William G. Morgan developed volleyball in the USA 1895.
• Volleyball came to Europe 1914 and to Scandinavia in the 1920's.
• International Volleyball Federation, FIVB, was founded in 1947.
• Volleyball has been an Olympic sport since 1964.
• First World Championship games were played in 1949.
• Beach volley became an official sport of the Olympics in Atlanta 1996.

HISTORY IN FINLAND

• Volleyball arrived to Finland in the 1920’s.
• Volleyball was a part of the Finnish Basketball Association's program starting in 1939.
• A working committee for volleyball was founded in the Finnish Basketball Association 1949. This was the first official volleyball organization that was part of the Finnish sports organization.
• The Finnish Volleyball Committee was founded in 1956 and it was accepted by FIVB in 1957. The Finnish Volleyball Association was founded in 1959.
• Finland played in the World Championships in 1952 and in the European Championships in 1955.
• The national championship series in volleyball has been played since 1957. The National Volleyball League was founded 1994 and the first league season was played in 1995-1996.
• The first National Championships in Beach Volley were played in 1989.

THE PRESENT MOMENT

• FIVB has 219 member countries which is more than in any other sport organization.
• Volleyball has approximately 200 million active players and even a billion devotees all around the world.

THE PRESENT MOMENT IN FINLAND

• Finland has approximately 150,000 volleyball devotees. 30,000 of them are youth players.
• The number of registered players is 14 000, of which over 8 700 are junior players.
• There are 900 classified referees and 800 youth referees in Finland.
• 2 600 teams play in the series of the association, of which 1 400 are junior teams. In addition, there are many regional and local series.
• The association organizes competition activities for 9-21 years old youths. Men play in seven and women in six series levels.
• Finland has eight National Teams: men, women, boys (3) and girls (3).
• Men's National Team plays in the World League.
• The world’s biggest youth volleyball tournament, Power Cup, is annually organized in Finland (2006: 918 teams).
• The National Beach Volley Championships Tour and finals are organized every summer. Youth and veterans have also their own national championship tournaments.
• The Finnish beach volley players also participate in the World Championships and European Championships. The first FIVB World Tour tournament will be played in Finland (Åland) 2007.
• The Finnish Volleyball Association has approximately 800 member clubs.
• Association’s budget for the year 2007 is EUR 3,6 million.