FIVB looks to future ahead of 2014 Congress

Lausanne, Switzerland, October 27, 2014 – A collective review of the dynamic modernisation of global volleyball over the past two years and how that success can be built upon for the continued betterment of the sport will be at the heart of the 34th FIVB Congress which begins in Cagliari, Italy on Friday.

The biennial meeting, which will be preceded by a one-day workshop for national federations in categories 1 and 2, will bring together 200 national federations and give them the chance to discuss the FIVB’s activities over the last two years and offer their thoughts on the future of the organisation.

The 2012 FIVB Congress in Anaheim, USA saw Dr. Ary S. Graça F° elected as the fourth FIVB President. Under the leadership of President Graça the organisation has seen rapid growth in the development of technological innovations which are now in use today.

However, whilst the last two years have set the pace for this evolution, the FIVB is continuing to make strides into new areas to constantly improve the sport. It is with this in mind that innovations such as the state-of-the-art LED net – recently on show at the Men’s and Women’s World Championship – are important to build upon.

The 2014 edition will not be an electoral one, with attention also focused on reports from all of the FIVB’s properties as well as ratifying decisions made by the Board of Administration and Executive Committee.

The Congress will be preceded by a one-day workshop for national federations in categories 1 and 2 with the theme “From vision to action”. The aim is to create an open dialogue between all member federations through collaboration.

The previous workshop at the 2012 Congress included 159 participants from 146 countries and the goal for the 2014 edition is to better that number.

Whilst it may not be known for its volleyball history, Sardinia has been the starting point for many of today’s global stars.

Club side Tiscali Cagliari has seen some of the world’s top players compete on its court. In the past their roster has included accomplished players such as Paolo Torre, Puerto Rico's Hector Soto and a young Jan Stokr of the Czech Republic, the latter going on to win the FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship later in his career for Trentino Volley.

The island has also hosted its fair share of tournaments, most recently a leg of the 2014 FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix in the northern city of Sassari. Cagliari also welcomed the CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship Final earlier this year and has also hosted three FIVB Beach Volleyball challenger events in 1999, 2005 and 2006.

	Date	Location	N°delegates from NF (incl. Proxies)
1	18-20 April 1947	Paris	14
2	12-18 September 1949	Prague	11
3	18-22 September 1951	Paris	23
4	14-16 November 1953	Bucharest	20
5	25-27 November 1955	Florence	23
6	7-8 September 1957	Moscow	30
7	2-6 October 1959	Budapest	32
8	6-11 September 1961	Marseille	34
9	16-20 October 1964	Tokyo	46
10	8-10 September 1966	Prague	47
11	18-22 October 1968	Mexico	74
12	25-29 September 1970	Sofia	70
13	4-6 September 1972	Munich	81
14	9-10 October 1974	Mexico	79
15	28-29 July 1976	Montreal	77
16	29-30 September 1978	Rome	70
17	31 July - 1 August 1980	Moscow	84
18	29-30 September 1982	Buenos Aires	88
19	25-26 July 1984	Los Angeles	90
20	5-6 September 1986	Prague	62
21	14-15 September 1988	Seoul	91
22	13-14 October 1990	Rio de Janeiro	101
23	21-22 July 1992	Barcelona	110
24	23-24 September 1994	Athens	134
25	14-16 July 1996	Atlanta	134
26	26-28 October 1998	Tokyo	139
27	2-4 August 2000	Seville	156
28	21-23 September 2002	Buenos Aires	177
29	12-13 May 2004	Porto	168
30	23-25 October 2006	Tokyo	196
31	16-17 June 2008	Dubai	184
32	9-10 September 2010	Rome	195
33	19-21 September 2012	Anaheim	196