Italian Volleyball Leagues and players unite against FIVB calendar proposal: “No Clubs, No Players, No Volley”

The debate over volleyball’s international calendar is gathering momentum, and the Italian volleyball movement has delivered a clear message: the proposed reform for the 2028–2032 cycle cannot come at the expense of players’ health and the sustainability of club competitions.
Lega Pallavolo Serie A, Lega Volley Femminile and the Associazione Italiana Pallavolisti (AIP) have jointly expressed their strong opposition to the FIVB’s proposal, highlighting what they consider to be serious structural flaws in the new calendar.

At the heart of their criticism lies a problem that, in their view, remains unresolved.
National championships are currently compressed into approximately seven months, and the proposed changes would not extend their duration. Instead, they would redistribute commitments between club and international volleyball, potentially increasing the overall burden on the entire system.

The three organisations identify three major concerns.
The first is the physical and mental workload placed on athletes. More matches, a tighter concentration of fixtures and additional peaks in intensity would reduce recovery time, raising concerns over player welfare and the risk of injuries.
The second is the potential loss of value for domestic championships. The proposed interruption between December and January would remove club competitions from one of the most commercially and emotionally significant periods of the season. Christmas and the winter months are particularly important for attendance, sponsorship, television rights and fan engagement, making the break a potentially damaging setback for clubs.
The third concern is the failure to address the underlying issue: the limited space allocated to national leagues. Rather than allowing domestic competitions to develop over a longer and more sustainable period, the proposed calendar would further compress their schedules, threatening their continuity and sporting and economic value.

For the Italian leagues and players’ association, the future of volleyball cannot be built around an international calendar that overlooks the foundations of the game.
Any reform must balance the demands of national teams with the need to protect athletes, strengthen domestic championships and recognise the central role of clubs.

Their position is unequivocal: a sustainable calendar must be designed with the entire volleyball ecosystem in mind, not simply by redistributing fixtures. Without clubs, and without the players who make the sport possible, there can be no volleyball.

The message behind the joint statement is captured in the campaign’s powerful slogan: #NoClubsNoPlayersNoVolley.

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