Footvolley History

Footvolley, or Futevolei, is a sand beach sport that combines field rules based on beach volleyball with ball-touch rules taken from football. In essence footvolley is beach volleyball except players are not allowed to use their hands and a custom ball specific to footvolley replaces the volleyball. The ball resembles a soccer ball.

Known and recognized by some to be created by a Brazilian folk named Octavio de Moraes, also know as “Tata” back in 1965 in Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana beach. The game originated due to a banning on football on the beach at that time, however, volleyball courts were open. So, in order to find a way around the prohibition rules on football on the beach, Tata decided to play on the volleyball court with net and boundaries. From that moment on, the game has gained a lot of popularity and spread across the globe and has become a sensation.

The game is now played by mens doubles, womens doubles, mixed doubles and exhibition games are also played in trios and quartet formats.

Fun Facts

  • Originally Footvolley (futevolei) was called “pevolei” which means footvolley in English (pe = foot / volei = volley).

  • At the beginning the game was played with 5 players each side, then doubles came. There were even games played as singles.

  • Footvolley court dimensions are larger than beach volleyball court dimensions.  Footvolley is 9 meters by 9 meters each side while beach volleyball is 8 meters by 8 meters.

  • Net height for men’s modality is 2.2 meters and women’s modality is 2.0 meters.

  • Footvolley ball is heavier (360g – 400g) and larger in diameter than a volleyball.