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In English

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 220 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 220 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 118,000 volleyball players. 27,000 of them are youth players.
  • The number of registered players is about 12 200, of which about 7200 are junior players.
  • There are 540 classified referees and 530 youth referees in Finland.
  • 1 440 teams play in the series of the association, of which 1 000 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.
  • 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 Finnish Volleyball Association has approximately 700 member clubs.
  • Association’s budget for the year 2012 is EUR 4,2 million.