FIVB President hails rapid growth of volleyball globally and encourages National Federations to dream big

FIVB President Dr Ary S. Graça F° today highlighted the huge growth of volleyball during his 10 years as President and urged National Federations to dream big during the President’s Report at the 38th FIVB World Congress in Arnhem, the Netherlands.

As the global Volleyball Family celebrates Dr Ary S. Graça F°’s 10-year anniversary as FIVB President, his report on the opening day of the World Congress was an opportunity to look back at all that has been achieved in volleyball and beach volleyball in the past decade.

Among these achievements is the FIVB’s landmark partnership with CVC Capital Partners and the creation of Volleyball World, the commercial arm of volleyball. Since its launch in February 2021, Volleyball World has launched a cutting-edge new tour, the Beach Pro Tour, secured partnerships with a catalogue of top brands such as Mizuno and DHL, and signed multi-year broadcast partnerships with the likes of Polsat and ESPN.

FIVB President addresses National Federations at the World Congress

“When I was elected the FIVB President in 2012, I promised to work tirelessly with you to revolutionise our sport, bringing opportunities and innovation. I promised to elevate volleyball to the place it deserves to be: one of the biggest sports in the world. 10 years later, I am delighted to see how far we have come, but to also look at how much more we can do for volleyball and how we can best support you, our National Federations,” said President Dr Ary S. Graça F°.

A key highlight of the report was the FIVB’s commitment to reinvesting the money that comes from the sport back into the sport through revolutionary programmes like Volleyball Empowerment. Under the leadership of President Dr Ary S. Graça F°, development support has increased by 314% with almost 50 million USD invested into National Federations and national teams over the past 10 years.