The Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (English: International Volleyball Federation), commonly known by the acronym FIVB, is the international governing body for all forms of volleyball.^[2] Its headquarters are located in Lausanne, Switzerland and its current president is Brazilian Ary Graça.

The FIVB was founded in France in April 1947.^[3] In the late 1940s, some of the European national federations began to address the issue of creating an international governing body for the sport of volleyball. Initial discussions eventually lead to the installation of a Constitutive Congress in 1947. Fourteen national federations representing five different continents attended the meetings where, between 18 and 20 April, the entity was officially formed, having Frenchman Paul Libaud as first president.

One of the main goals of the 1947 Congress was achieved two years later with the establishment of the first international major volleyball event, the World Championship. In 1952, a women's version of the tournament was also introduced.

In 1964, the IOC endorsed the addition of volleyball to the Olympic programme. By this time, the number of national federations affiliated to the FIVB had grown to 89. Later in that year (1969), a new international event, the World Cup was introduced. It would be turned into a qualifying event for the Olympic Games in 1991.

Following Libaud's retirement and the election of Mexican Rubén Acosta Hernandez for the position of president in 1984, the FIVB moved its headquarters from Paris, France to Lausanne, Switzerland and intensified to an unprecedented level its policy of promoting volleyball on a worldwide basis. Measures taken in this direction include the establishment of annual competitions for men's and women's volleyball (the World League, in 1990, and the Grand Prix, in 1993), the indication of Beach volleyball as an Olympic event (1996) and a number of changes in the rules of the game with the purpose of enhancing public visibility.

On 19 June 2008, Wei Jizhong (Chinese: 魏纪中) of China, who during this period served as the 1st Vice president took over during the 31st World Congress in Dubai when Dr. Rubén Acosta decided to step down. Mr. Jizhong Wei became the third president in the history of the FIVB. The handover of the presidency took place on 24 August 2008 in Beijing.

As of 2015, the FIVB counted 221 affiliated national federations.

The FIVB's main activity is worldwide planning and organisation of volleyball events, sometimes in conjunction with other international governing bodies such as the IOC. This involves defining qualification procedures and competition formulae for tournaments, as well as more specific details such as player line-up and replacement restrictions, venues and hosts.

The FIVB participates directly in the organization of continental volleyball events which have an attached international significance, such as Olympic and World Championship continental qualification tournaments.

Amongst others, the FIVB organizes the following international volleyball tournaments:

Defunct

and the following international under-age volleyball tournaments:

and the following international beach volleyball tournaments:

and the following international under-age beach volleyball tournaments:

The FIVB also maintains extensive special programmes aimed at the advance of world volleyball. This includes the constitution of development centers in areas where the sport is still unpopular, as well as support (in instruction and equipment) for organizations that fail to meet the quality standards required on an international level. Therefore, FIVB organizes congress, workshops, courses for referees, coaches and teachers, to promote grassroot volleyball development, such as:

Another relevant area of concern is the promotion of volleyball in a worldwide scale. Part of the FIVB's activities in this area consists in attracting media partners and sponsors through negotiation of commercial rights for broadcasting and coverage of major events.

As reported by Olympic news outlet Around the Rings ^[10] , the FIVB recently launched a new "FIVB Heroes" promotion in Rome. The campaign uses billboards, posters and statues of the top beach volleyball players situated around the city to enhance visibility and profiles of the athletes.

The FIVB is responsible for the standardization of volleyball rules. In recent years, many changes were implemented in connection with its promotional and marketing vision, in an alleged attempt to improve public visibility and make the sport comply to the demands of sponsors and media organizations. These changes range from ingenuous, almost commonplace restrictions, such as the obligation of a "fashionable" uniform – meaning tight clothing, supposed to be more appealing to the audience because it makes players bodies salient –, to very drastic changes in the format of competitions (e.g., the rally-point system).

The FIVB is the ultimate international authority in volleyball, and judges (or is involved at least to some degree in the judgement) issues such as doping, regulation of player transfer, nationality changes and gender determination. It also publishes the FIVB World Rankings, used as basis for seeding in international competitions.

The FIVB is also responsible for the volleyball games at some regional competitions as:

World Congress: The supreme authority convened every two years, electing the President and members of the Board.

Board of Administration: Responsible for the overall management of the FIVB, overseeing the work of the national federations, confederations, commissions and councils and appoints officials including members of the Executive Committee.

Executive Committee: Composed of Board members and each member is charged with important and specific responsibilities, assisted by Commissions, Committees and Councils.

Judicial Bodies

The FIVB also presides over five continental confederations:

Each continental confederation, by its turn, presides over a number of national federations located in its domain of action.

"FIVB Heroes" is the official image campaign of the FIVB. The campaign aims to raise awareness of the players’ athletic achievements and to increase the worldwide interest in the sport. “FIVB Heroes” features 33 volleyball and 29 beach volleyball players from 19 countries, who were selected due to their outstanding performance.