February 10, 2022 is a historical date for footvolley in Europe. We welcome the Russian Footvolley League (RFVL) into our family. Russia is the 16th nation to join our continental federation. The decision of our Executive Committee was swift and unanimous. RFVL’s development, level of national competition and international organizational skills have grown exponentially in the past 5 years. Moreover, we share the exact same values on how to develop the sport. Geographically and demographically this means a huge expansion to the East of the continent. A short introduction.
24/11/2021 Sportcenter LETO in Moscow: the 1st ranking of the Russian championship 2021-2022.
“I love this picture. You see our working group, association members, female athletes, a promising young generation and some football legends. All together in a top location where we also hosted the international tournament InterCup in December 2021 .”
From Russia with love for footvolley
Russia has a vast territory and is often associated with snow and cold temperatures. However footvolley thrives in all environments. In the past decades Russian teams already participated in events all over the world. The Russian Footvolley League has been founded in April 2017. In less than 5 years time they managed to set up a national competition with more than 350 male players and 12 active female players. Since 2017 RFVL organized 87 tournaments all over the country.
Infographic of the Russion Footvolley League 2017-2021
Currently there are 5 regional footvolley clubs. They practice in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Samara, Novosibirsk and Barnaul. It’s an amazing community with a passion to promote and develop the sport. The umbrella federation RFVL coordinates this development, as well as the Russian competition and the participation of their top teams at several of the international tournaments.
January 2022, Saint Petersburg: 3rd ranking of the Russian championship 2021/2022
Shared values, one mission
When we asked for a first reaction after the admission into the EFVL the Russian federation replied: “We’re really glad to finally become an official member of the EFVL family. It's an important step for both sides. To be part of EFVL means to have a good platform to share our intentions with a big community. United we have the best chance to promote footvolley in the proper way and to get the sport officially recognized worldwide.
“Furthermore, it’s a great opportunity for our players to gain experience and evolve even faster by competing with the best players in Europe.”
Moving forward
RFVL already has plans for the summer season championship 2022. Furthermore they received several requests from regional partners to open new footvolley clubs in 4 cities: Kazan, Sochi, Saratov and Chelyabinsk. Simultaneously RFVL plans a huge scale-up in the Moscow region.
