Not every net touch or center-line crossing is a fault.

The ruleset used on this page

This explanation applies to six-player indoor volleyball under the FIVB Official Volleyball Rules 2025–2028, version 05. The edition was approved by the 39th FIVB World Congress in 2024 and applies to competitions beginning after 1 January 2025.

The controlling provisions are Rule 1.3.3 (the centre line), Rules 11.1–11.4 (player at the net), Rules 13.1 and 13.3 (attack hits), and Rules 14.3 and 14.6 (blocking in the opponent's space). This is not a statement of beach-volleyball, NCAA, NFHS or a particular domestic league's rules.

How to judge a near-net incident

1. Locate the contact. Was it the net between the antennae, an antenna, equipment outside an antenna, the opponent's court, or the ball across the vertical plane?
2. Identify the action. Was the player taking off, hitting or attempting to hit, blocking, or landing and becoming ready for a new action?
3. For floor contact, identify the body part. A foot has a precise centre-line test; a body part above the feet is judged by interference.
4. For over-net contact, freeze the timing. Was the player's initial attack contact in their own space, and had the opponent executed an attack hit before the block contact?
5. Find the first fault. Under FIVB Rule 6.1.2, the first of successive faults decides the rally; simultaneous faults by opponents produce a double fault and replay.

The playing action lasts longer than ball contact

FIVB Rule 11.3.1 makes contact with the net between the antennae a fault when it occurs during the action of playing the ball. Rule 11.4.4 also includes contact with an antenna during that action.

The action includes take-off, the hit or attempted hit, and landing safely ready for a new action. A player close to the ball and trying to play it is within the action even if the player misses the ball. That is why a hitter or blocker can fault on landing after the ball has already travelled away.

By contrast, a player who has completed the action and is ready for a new one does not commit a Rule 11.3.1 fault merely because of every later, unrelated brush with the net. Separate interference can still make the contact illegal.

Three visible contacts that are not automatically faults

• The ball pushes the net into a player: Rule 11.3.3 says this is not a fault by that player.
• A player touches outside an antenna: the post, ropes and net outside the antenna may be touched if the contact does not interfere with play and is not used for an assisted hit under Rule 9.1.3.
• A player away from the ball brushes the net: if the player is not in the action of playing the ball and creates no interference or unfair advantage, the contact is not captured by the basic net-touch fault.

There is no general “light touch” exception inside the antennae. If contact occurs there during the playing action, how gently the jersey, arm or body moved the net does not change Rule 11.3.1.

The net cannot be used as equipment

Rule 11.4.4 gives examples of interference: using the net between the antennae as support or a stabilising aid, gaining an unfair advantage through net contact, hindering an opponent's legitimate attempt to play the ball, or catching or holding the net.

These examples matter when the simple “action of playing the ball” test does not settle the incident. A player cannot escape a fault by saying the ball was elsewhere if the player used the net to stay upright or obstructed the opponent's legal play.

A foot may cross partly—but not completely

FIVB Rule 1.3.3 treats the entire width of the centre line as belonging to both courts. Under Rule 11.2.2.1, a foot may touch the opponent's court if some part of that foot remains in contact with, or directly above, the centre line and the action does not interfere with the opponent.

If the foot lands completely beyond the centre line on the opponent's court, Rule 11.4.3 makes it a fault even without contact with an opponent. A foot hovering across the plane has not automatically committed that floor-contact fault, but penetration under the net is still illegal if it interferes with play.

A hand or knee on the other court uses a different test

Rule 11.2.2.2 permits contact with the opponent's court by a body part above the feet, provided there is no interference with the opponent's play. A knee, hand or hip over the line is therefore not judged by the foot's “some part above the line” test.

Under Rule 11.2.1, penetration into the opponent's space below the net is also permitted only while it does not interfere. Taking away an opponent's path to the ball or landing space can satisfy that test; a near miss is not automatically a fault merely because it looks dangerous on replay. Players may enter the opponent's court after the ball is out of play, and may enter the opponent's free zone during play if they do not interfere.

The hand may finish beyond the net

Rule 11.1.2 permits an attacker's hand to pass beyond the net after an attack hit when the initial ball contact was in that player's own playing space and the ball was not caught or thrown. The position of the hand after contact is therefore not enough to prove overreach.

The opposite case is a fault under Rule 13.3.1: an attacker contacts the ball within the opponent's playing space. Freeze the replay at ball contact, not at the end of the arm swing.

A blocker may penetrate, but cannot take the opponent's play early

Rules 11.1.1 and 14.3 allow a blocker to place hands and arms beyond the net. The blocker must not interfere with the opponent's play or touch the ball or an opponent in the opponent's space before the opponent has executed an attack hit.

An attack hit means an action, other than a serve or block, that directs the ball toward the opponent. It is completed when the ball completely crosses the vertical plane or is touched by an opponent. A blocker may not reach across and take a set that the attacking team still has the right to play merely because the ball is close to the net.

Current wording is important: simultaneous contact by the attacker and blocker on the attacker's side is not the same as a blocker touching first. FIVB approved that clarification for implementation from 1 January 2022, and version 05 now prohibits the beyond-net contact before the attack hit.

A fault awards the rally; there is no advantage phase

A net, penetration or overreach fault is a playing fault. Under FIVB Rules 6.1.1–6.1.3, the opponent wins the rally and scores a point. If the opponent was receiving, it also gains the next service; if it was already serving, it continues to serve.

FIVB indoor volleyball does not use a rugby-style advantage that lets a detected fault continue because the non-offending team may benefit. The referee identifies the first fault. If opponents commit faults simultaneously, the referee calls a double fault and replays the rally.

The hitter clips the net while landing

Situation: Blue attacks legally, then touches the net between the antennae while landing and before being safely ready for another action.

FIVB 2025–2028 ruling: fault by Blue under Rule 11.3.1. Landing is still part of the action of playing the ball; the fact that the ball contact happened earlier does not end that action instantly.

The ball drives the net into a blocker

Situation: an attack hits the net, and the displaced mesh contacts Red's hands while Red is otherwise legal.

FIVB 2025–2028 ruling: no net fault. Rule 11.3.3 expressly treats net contact caused by the ball being driven into the net as legal.

A shoe overlaps the centre line

Situation: Blue lands with most of one shoe on Red's court, but the heel remains directly above the centre line and Blue does not interfere with Red.

FIVB 2025–2028 ruling: play on under Rule 11.2.2.1. Some part of the penetrating foot is still directly above the line. If the entire shoe lands beyond the line, it becomes a Rule 11.4.3 fault.

A blocker takes the setter's ball

Situation: Blue's second contact remains in Blue's space and is available for a Blue attacker. Red reaches across and touches it before Blue executes an attack hit.

FIVB 2025–2028 ruling: reaching-beyond fault by Red under Rules 11.1.1, 11.4.1 and 14.3. Blue still had the right to execute its play; proximity to the net did not transfer that right to Red.

Attacker and blocker contact simultaneously

Situation: Blue contacts the ball as an attack hit in Blue's space at the same moment Red's legal block penetrates and contacts the ball.

FIVB 2025–2028 ruling: no reaching-beyond fault merely from that simultaneous contact. The prohibited timing is Red touching before Blue's attack hit. Officials must still check for a separate net, catch or other fault.

Review exists only where the competition provides it

The FIVB Volleyball Video Challenge System Regulations 2026 list net touch, centre-line foot violation and reaching beyond the net as reviewable categories, subject to the required technology and camera view. A team has two challenges per set; a successful or inconclusive challenge is retained, while two unsuccessful challenges exhaust the team's requests for that set.

For 2026 test competitions, the last action may be challenged within seven seconds after the rally. An earlier action requires a mid-rally bookmark, then confirmation within seven seconds after the rally. The first fault visible in the reviewed sequence prevails; if the footage is inconclusive, the original decision stands.

These procedures apply only at events using the FIVB system. Local matches without video review are decided by the referees under the playing rules.

Five shortcuts that produce the wrong call

• “Any net touch is a fault.” Location, playing action and interference matter.
• “Any body part across the centre line is a fault.” Feet and body parts above the feet use different tests.
• “The whole foot must stay on the line.” Some part in contact with or directly above the line can be enough, if there is no interference.
• “Hands can never cross the net.” Legal blocking penetration and attack follow-through are expressly allowed.
• “A blocker may take any ball drifting near the tape.” The attacking team keeps its play until it executes an attack hit; early interference is overreach.

What the 2026 tests do—and do not—change

FIVB's 27 February 2026 notice applies designated tests to the 2026 Volleyball Nations League, FIVB U17 World Championships and 2026 Continental Championships. The notice changes several playing and challenge procedures, but it does not replace the Rule 11 tests explained on this page.

National federations, school and college codes, professional leagues and event organisers may publish their own rulebooks or challenge procedures. Use the appointed competition's current regulations rather than transferring this FIVB baseline automatically. Beach volleyball has a separate FIVB rulebook and is outside this page's scope.

Governing-body sources and effective version

• FIVB — Official Volleyball Rules 2025–2028, version 05: Rules 1.3.3, 6.1, 9.1.3, 11.1–11.4, 13.1–13.3 and 14.3–14.6
• FIVB — Official Volleyball Rules page: current-edition status and language editions
• FIVB — Volleyball Video Challenge System Regulations 2026: sections 1, 2, 4, 6 and 8
• FIVB — 2026 rule and procedure tests, approved 27 February 2026
• FIVB — Rule 14.6 simultaneous attacker/blocker contact change, implemented 1 January 2022

Checked in August 2026 against the current English rulebook linked by FIVB (version 05), the 2026 Video Challenge System Regulations and the 2026 test notice. The indoor Rule 11 baseline remains controlling; event and national regulations may supplement it, especially for video review.