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On Sunday, the final day of the 38^th FIVB Congress held in Arnhem, a visibly emotional CEV President Aleksandar Boričić received the FIVB Grand Cross in recognition of his longstanding leadership of Volleyball in Europe and worldwide and his dedication to the FIVB as Board of Administration Member and FIVB Vice-President.

FIVB President Dr Ary S. Graça F° congratulates CEV President Aleksandar Boričić upon presenting him with the FIVB Grand Cross

The FIVB Board of Administration had decided to award the Grand Cross to Mr Boričić, thus acknowledging the CEV President as one of our sport’s most important leaders globally. Mr Boričić, who has been the CEV President since October 2015, was a very successful Volleyball player and coach, before switching to sports administration, leading the Volleyball Federation of the former Yugoslavia, Serbia and Montenegro and – most recently – Serbia.

Boričić was also first president of Balkan Volleyball Association (2000-2001).

FIVB President Dr Ary S. Graça F° presented himself the Grand Cross to Mr Boričić – a man who, with relentless enthusiasm, passion and commitment, has literally transformed European Volleyball and raised the profile of the sport to unprecedented heights since assuming the leadership of the European Volleyball family back in 2015.

FIVB President Dr Ary S. Graça F° today highlighted the huge growth of volleyball during his 10 years as President and urged National Federations to dream big during the President’s Report at the 38th FIVB World Congress in Arnhem, the Netherlands.

As the global Volleyball Family celebrates Dr Ary S. Graça F°’s 10-year anniversary as FIVB President, his report on the opening day of the World Congress was an opportunity to look back at all that has been achieved in volleyball and beach volleyball in the past decade.

FIVB Congress 2022 Delegates from Balkan Countries

Among these achievements is the FIVB’s landmark partnership with CVC Capital Partners and the creation of Volleyball World, the commercial arm of volleyball. Since its launch in February 2021, Volleyball World has launched a cutting-edge new tour, the Beach Pro Tour, secured partnerships with a catalogue of top brands such as Mizuno and DHL, and signed multi-year broadcast partnerships with the likes of Polsat and ESPN.

“When I was elected the FIVB President in 2012, I promised to work tirelessly with you to revolutionise our sport, bringing opportunities and innovation. I promised to elevate volleyball to the place it deserves to be: one of the biggest sports in the world. 10 years later, I am delighted to see how far we have come, but to also look at how much more we can do for volleyball and how we can best support you, our National Federations,” said President Dr Ary S. Graça F°.

A key highlight of the report was the FIVB’s commitment to reinvesting the money that comes from the sport back into the sport through revolutionary programmes like Volleyball Empowerment. Under the leadership of President Dr Ary S. Graça F°, development support has increased by 314% with almost 50 million USD invested into National Federations and national teams over the past 10 years.

“Now, as I promised you 10 years ago, I continue to offer you opportunities. I don’t want to simply give you a fish; I want to teach you how to fish. And I will not abandon any of you, like many of you were in the past,” said the FIVB President.

“That’s why we launched the Volleyball Empowerment programme, to reinvest the money from our partnership with CVC directly into our national teams, in both men’s and women’s volleyball, beach volleyball and snow volleyball.”

The FIVB President also pledged that he would further increase the resources available to support all 222 National Federations and continue to grow the sport all over the world.

FIVB Congres 2022

The notion of building for the future together was echoed throughout the President’s Report. Through Volleyball Empowerment to drive the sport’s development, Volleyball World to maximise the commercial potential of the sport and a commitment to innovation and opportunity, the President promised to lead the sport to even greater success moving forward.

The report closed with an inspirational message of unity from President Dr Ary S. Graça F°:

“Now it is important for us to continue working closely together. We must remember that we are worth much more together than alone. And by working together as one united family we can build a lasting legacy for our sport and achieve even more. We are here to serve volleyball! I am here to serve volleyball! To serve all of you, our National Federations!”

FIVB World Congress Approves Enhancements To Constitution And Governance

The 38th FIVB World Congress continued yesterday with delegates approving several enhancements to the FIVB Constitution and Rules of Procedure, which were sent to all National Federations prior to the Congress, to align with the latest best practices in good governance.

The changes include term limits of a maximum of three four-year terms for Board of Administration members, in addition to key amendments aimed at increasing gender balance at a Board level.

FIVB President Dr Ary S. Graça F°

In particular, each Continental Confederation as part of its quota of Board seats, will be required to ensure that there is at least one Board member from each gender. This will ensure gender representation across all regions and a minimum of eight gender in minority members on the FIVB Board of Administration.

A revision allowing the FIVB to assist in internal National Federation disputes was also approved, a right that will be exercised for the purpose of ensuring the sport is never adversely impacted by governance issues.

The Congress also approved a number of revisions to the Rules of Procedure pertaining to the Congress agenda, electronic voting and the accreditation of delegates. The updates to the FIVB Constitution and Rules of Procedure of the FIVB Congress will be posted shortly on the FIVB website.

Zoran Gajic, president of VF Serbia and Ary Graca

Meanwhile, kicking off day two of the Congress were the financial reports from 2020-2021. Delegates received a report on the FIVB’s financial activities from FIVB Finance Department Director Yves Eymann, along with the Controller’s Report and Internal Auditors’ Report from Olivier Zysset. In addition, Deloitte’s Annick Jaton presented the External Auditor’s Report. All of the reports were approved by the Congress.

Adin Cojocaru, president of VF Romania and Ary Graca

The Congress also approved the budget for 2022-2023 which was presented by FIVB General Director Fabio Azevedo, and approved the discharge of the FIVB Board of Administration 2020-2021. The appointment of Deloitte as external auditors for 2022-2026 was also approved.

he World Congress also appointed Dr. Jose Joaquin Puello, Luiz Augusto Teixeira de Freitas, Tomohiro Tohyama and Richard Callicott to the FIVB Ethics Panel.

The Congress also heard reports from the Continental Confederation Presidents, including: Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) President Rita Subowo, African Volleyball Confederation (CAVB) President Bouchra Hajij, European Volleyball Confederation (CEV) President Aleksandar Boričić, North, Central American and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation (NORCECA) President Cristobal Marte Hoffiz and South American Volleyball Confederation (CSV) President Marco Tullio Teixeira.

The Continental Confederation Presidents provided detailed updates on how they had to transition from a COVID-19 environment to a forward-looking plan for the development of the sport. A theme throughout all the reports was unity and solidarity, facing challenges together and building for the future.