Following the inclusion of Sweden a couple of weeks ago we are happy to announce Israel as a new member of the European Footvolley League. Israel becomes the 15th member after a unanimous vote from the member nations. 

About footvolley in Israel 🇮🇱

Israel is a country with a lot of footvolley players and a long-standing footvolley culture. There are over 200 active male footvolley players and about 20 women players - and growing. 

Israel Footvolley Association (IFA) is well organized and puts a lot of focus on development. They really believe -like the EFVL- this sport is a life changer. There are footvolley programs around the country for both men and women, and of course youth players. They provide footvolley training to professional football clubs in the beginning of the season and there are projects for young kids of tough neighbourhoods.

On top Israel Footvolley Association organized a lot of high-quality tournaments in the past years: In 2016 they had a Rio Footvolley Qualification Tournament for the Rio Games with over 50 Israeli teams participating. There also was the Eilat World Championship with some of the best players from around the world. The same goes for the Haifa International Tournament. The national Israeli Footvolley League with 1st and 2nd division broadcasted weekly LIVE on television. Also the first ever Mixed Couples Footvolley Championship in Israel was held last year. In April 2018 Israel hosted the The Red Sea World event in Eilat which also attracted many European teams like e.g. our European Champions from Portugal Nelson & Miguel.

If you want to play footvolley in Israel you can find courts and players in Tel Aviv, Haifa, Eilat, Bat Yam, Ashdod, Rishon le Zion, Kfar Saba, Yavne and Herzeliya to name a few cities.  

FIND OUT MORE: Visit Israel Footvolley on Facebook

Israel and the European Footvolley Championship (EFC)

With this late addition to the EFVL Israel has been invited to participate in the qualification tournament being organized the day prior to the first day of the EFC in Graz, Austria. Israel will also send a female team for the female tournament.

About the application process

Normal procedure for new EFVL memberships is that all member nations vote yes or no (one nation one vote). This can only happen at our annual meeting at the end of the year. New members will have to present themselves, and if voted Yes they will have to sign the statutes and the ethical code.

However, at the last meeting in Luzern 2017 we were preoccupied with officially founding EFVL under Swiss law. Unfortunately we did not have the time to address the question of new memberships.

Israel is now the 15th member after a unanimous but online vote, which is an exceptional situation. They have been waiting for 3 years, but the official signing will only take place in November 2018 when all the nations meet at our annual meeting. 

Many countries want to be a part of EFVL, and we are eager to include more. In addition to the application from Israel we have interest from many more countries. Our administration department is looking into all of them and an important criteria is the footvolley culture in each country. Is there a footvolley history. Are they organized and how. Is there a national ranking open to all. Other criteria involved in the decision-making: geographical factors, safety of players and ambassadors, easy to travel and other practical matters. We also need to decide if a new member is an asset to the EFVL. 

#welovefootvolley