Know Your Sport - Volleyball

The volleyball competition for men and women will each consist of 38 matches, to be played at the newly-built Ariake Arena in Tokyo Bay.

The competitions begin with a preliminary round, with 12 teams for each gender divided into two pools of six. Each pool plays a round-robin and the top four teams of each pool advance to the quarterfinals. The final round is played in a knockout system.

Volleyball is played by two teams on a 18m x 9m court divided by a net. Each team at the Olympic Games is allowed up to 12 players, but only 6 play on court. The game starts with a serve that sends the ball over the net to the opponent’s side. Teams are allowed to touch the ball three times before it must cross over the net into the opponent’s court.

Volleyball matches are played to the best of five sets. Each set is played to 25 points with a team needing a two-point advantage to win the set. When a team wins a point they serve next. The first team to three sets wins the match but when the match is tied at two sets each, the final set is played to 15 points.