Footvolley

I would like to share with you a type of sport I was recently introduced to and fell in love with immediately called Footvolley. Although I don’t play it myself, I find it fascinating to watch because it combines two of my favorite things in life; sports and the beach.

The game of footvolley was created by Octavio de Moraes in 1965, on the beach of Copacabana in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The idea of footvolley was originally emerged due to the fact that football was banned on the beach at that time, but volleyball courts were open. In order to skip that rule, players were using anything but their hands to pass the ball from one side of the volleyball net to the other. Thus, a new type of sport was created. Basically speaking, footvolley combines aspects of beach volleyball and ball-touch rules taken from association football. It is played on a beach volleyball field, in teams of two players only. The players are to pass the football using any part of their bodies except for their hands. Since the sport`s inception in Brazil, footvolley has spread and gained popularity all over the world. Tournaments and international events of the game have been taking place since the early 00`s.

In 2003, two Brazilian football players who were playing in Israeli teams first introduced the game to some of their Israeli friends on the beaches of Tel Aviv. The locals immediately fell in love with the game and the rumor started to spread around the city slowly but surely. Corona beer company was the first to initiate a series of sponsored footvolley tournaments in Israel back in 2007. The success of the tournaments led Corona to create the first Israeli footvolley league which exists to this very day. The league takes place annually during the summer and is broadcasted in the Israeli sport channels. Since 2018, there is also a female league of Israeli footvolley. In addition, the first Israeli footvolley school for teenage players is about to be opened soon. The game is played mostly in Tel Aviv beaches such as Frishman and Gordon, to which people can come and watch the games freely.

To conclude, I encourage you all to come and watch footvolley games during the summer. The games are engaging, the players are impressive and the atmosphere at the beach is priceless.