Scope
The ruleset used on this page
This page covers six-player indoor volleyball under the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) Official Volleyball Rules 2025–2028, English version 05. The edition applies to competitions beginning after 1 January 2025. Rules 1.4.2 and 6–12 supply the main service tests.
It does not state the beach, school, collegiate, youth or recreational rule as universal. Those codes may use different time limits, service attempts, line-up checks or review procedures. The appointed competition regulations control whenever they supplement the FIVB baseline.
Decision path
Work through the serve in this order
- Authorization: did the first referee whistle, and was the ball hit within eight seconds?
- Server and execution: was it the correct server, using one toss or release and one hand or any part of one arm?
- Service-zone test: at the hit—or at take-off for a jump serve—did the server avoid the court, end line and floor outside the service zone?
- Ball path: after a correct hit, did the ball avoid the serving team, pass completely through the crossing space and remain in?
- Screen and receiving position: was the ball served over a prohibited screen, and was the receiving team legally positioned under the rules or approved competition test in use?
- Fault priority: if more than one problem exists, apply FIVB Rules 6.1.2 and 12.7 rather than assuming every fault is judged by where the ball finally lands.
The “let” question
Net contact does not cause a re-serve
FIVB Rule 10.2 permits the ball to touch the net while crossing it. That applies to a serve too. If the ball clips the tape, crosses completely through the crossing space and lands in the opponent's court—or is played legally by the receiving team—the rally continues.
The phrase “let serve” can mislead viewers who expect the referee to stop and replay the point. FIVB does not award a replay for this net contact. A serve into the net is a fault when it becomes clear that the ball will not cross the net plane completely through the crossing space (Rule 12.6.2.1).
Authorization and time
The eight seconds begin at the whistle
The first referee authorizes service after checking that both teams are ready and that the server has the ball (Rule 12.3). The server must hit the ball within eight seconds after that whistle (Rule 12.4.4). The clock does not restart because the team notices the wrong player in the service zone.
FIVB Casebook 2024 case 3.29 illustrates the point: the correct player may replace the wrong player after the whistle, but must still serve inside the original eight-second period. There is no second whistle. Although that casebook predates the 2025–2028 text, the cited Rule 12.4.4 timing is unchanged in the current edition.
Too early
A pre-whistle serve is cancelled and repeated
A ball hit for service before the first referee's whistle is not the same as an eight-second fault. FIVB Rule 12.4.5 says that early service is cancelled and repeated. The referee must authorize the replacement service.
Why this is not a net “let”: the replay occurs because the service was not authorized, not because the ball touched the net.
Toss and contact
One toss or release, then one-hand-or-arm contact
Rules 12.4.1–12.4.2 require the ball to be hit with one hand or any part of one arm after being tossed or released from the hand or hands. The rules allow dribbling or moving the ball in the hands before that action, but allow only one toss or release.
A poor toss therefore cannot be caught and reset with a second toss under this ruleset. The server still has only the one authorized service action and the eight-second limit. A two-handed hit is improper execution; FIVB Casebook 2024 case 3.31 confirms that this is faulty even on a jump serve.
Service zone
The end line belongs to the forbidden area
FIVB Rule 1.4.2 defines the service zone as the nine-metre-wide area behind the end line. Its two short lateral marks are included in the width, and the zone extends back to the end of the free zone.
Under Rule 12.4.3, a standing server must not be touching the court, including the end line, or the floor outside the service zone when the ball is hit. A player may begin the approach outside the zone, but must satisfy the zone test at the decisive moment.
Jump serve
Judge the feet at take-off, not at ball contact
For a jump service, Rule 12.4.3 moves the service-zone test to take-off. The server must not touch the court, end line or floor outside the service zone on the last floor contact that launches the jump. The later airborne ball contact does not postpone that test.
After a legal hit, the server may step or land outside the service zone or inside the court. A jump server who takes off entirely behind the end line and between the service-zone limits may therefore land on the court without committing a foot fault.
Ball path
What must happen after a correct hit
Rules 10.1.1 and 12.6.2 require the served ball to cross the vertical plane of the net completely through the crossing space. That space is above the net, between the antennae and their imaginary extensions, and below the ceiling. A legal net touch does not relax those boundaries.
The service becomes faulty if the ball:
- touches a player of the serving team;
- fails to cross the net plane completely through the crossing space;
- touches an antenna, rope, post or net outside the side bands;
- crosses partially or wholly outside the crossing space or below the net;
- touches the ceiling, another outside object or a person out of play; or
- lands wholly outside the opponent's boundary lines.
A ball touching any part of a boundary line is in under Rule 8.3.
Screening
Both the hit and the flight path must be hidden
FIVB Rules 12.5.1–12.5.2 define screening more narrowly than “a tall teammate stood in front.” A player or group screens by waving arms, jumping, moving sideways during service, or standing grouped so that the receiving team cannot see both the service hit and the ball's flight path until the ball reaches the net plane. If either is visible to the receiving team, Rule 12.5.2 says it is not a screen.
Rule 12.5.3 separately forbids a serving-team player from raising the hands above the head during service until the ball has passed beyond the net. The first referee may advise the team through its game captain when deliberate screening is suspected. A serve that passes over an actual screen is a post-hit service fault under Rule 12.6.2.3.
Wrong server
Service order is an administrative fault with a score remedy
The players must follow the service order recorded on the line-up sheet (Rule 12.2.1). The scorer waits for the service action to be completed before signalling that the wrong player served; the FIVB Casebook states this expressly in case 3.28.
A rotational fault gives the opponent a point and the next service, and the faulty team's order is rectified (Rule 7.7.1). If the fault is discovered later, the scorer determines when it began and cancels points subsequently scored by the team at fault; the opponent's points remain. If that moment cannot be determined, no earlier points are cancelled (Rule 7.7.2).
Fault priority
Server fault versus receiving-team positional fault
FIVB Rule 12.7 creates a specific priority test:
- If the server faults at the service hit—for example improper execution or wrong rotational order—and the receiving team is out of position, the serving fault is sanctioned.
- If execution was correct but the serve becomes faulty after the hit—for example it goes out or passes over a screen—the receiving positional fault occurred first and is sanctioned.
Outside that special service rule, successive faults are generally decided by the first one, while simultaneous faults by opponents produce a double fault and replay under Rule 6.1.2. This is why “the first fault always wins” is too vague for a service replay.
2026 competition test
Some FIVB events move the receiving-position checkpoint
On 27 February 2026, FIVB announced a limited test for the 2026 Volleyball Nations League, FIVB U17 World Championships and 2026 Continental Championships. In those competitions, the receiving team must be in correct rotational order at the referee's whistle, then may move once the server's serving action begins.
This is not yet replacement wording for every FIVB match; FIVB says any update to the Official Rules remains subject to review after testing. It changes the receiving-team position analysis relevant to Rule 12.7, not the server's one-toss, eight-second, foot-position, contact, screening or ball-path requirements.
Outcome
A service fault awards point and next service
Under rally scoring, the opponent wins the rally and scores a point when the serving team faults (Rules 6.1.1–6.1.3). Because the receiving team has gained the right to serve, it rotates one position clockwise before serving; the player moving from front-right to back-right becomes the server (Rules 7.6.2 and 12.2.2.2).
A routine service fault is a playing fault, not automatically player misconduct. Separate delay or conduct sanctions require their own trigger.
Review
Foot faults can be checked where video challenge is used
The FIVB Video Challenge System Regulations 2025 include a server foot fault in the review menu: contact with the court or end line, or with the lateral free zone outside the service zone. The same document permits challenges at the end of a rally concerning an action during the rally, including service.
Challenge availability and procedure are competition-dependent. FIVB also tested a mid-rally bookmarking procedure in the named 2026 events, so viewers should use the regulations issued for that event rather than assume every match offers the same review.
Worked case 1
The ball clips the tape and drops on the line
Situation: the correct server serves legally. The ball touches the top of the net, crosses between the antennae and lands with part of the ball touching the opponent's end line.
FIVB 2025–2028 ruling: ball in; continue to the next rally with a point to the serving team. Rule 10.2 permits the net touch and Rule 8.3 makes line contact in. There is no re-serve.
Worked case 2
The jump server lands inside the court
Situation: the server's last floor contact is wholly behind the end line and within the lateral limits, then the player hits the ball in the air and lands inside the court.
FIVB 2025–2028 ruling: no foot fault. Rule 12.4.3 tests a jump server at take-off and expressly permits landing inside the court after the hit.
Worked case 3
The server catches a bad toss
Situation: after the whistle, the server tosses, catches the ball and asks to try the toss again.
FIVB 2025–2028 ruling: no second toss or release is available. Rule 12.4.2 allows only one, and the original eight seconds continue to run. The server cannot lawfully reset the action as a re-serve.
Worked case 4
The receiver overlaps and the serve then lands out
Situation: under the baseline rulebook, the receiving team is out of position at the service hit. The server's execution is otherwise correct, but the ball lands out.
FIVB 2025–2028 ruling: sanction the receiving positional fault. Rule 12.7.2 treats that fault as occurring before the later ball-out fault. In an event using the 2026 receiving-position test, first apply that event's earlier whistle-and-serving-action checkpoint.
Common mistakes
Five claims that give the wrong answer
- “Any net serve is replayed.” Not under FIVB indoor rules; legal crossing keeps the ball live.
- “A jump server's feet are judged when the ball is hit.” The decisive floor position is at take-off.
- “The server can re-toss once.” FIVB allows only one toss or release.
- “Any player blocking the receiver's view is a screen.” Rule 12.5.2 requires both the service hit and flight path to be hidden until the net plane; it also separately restricts raised hands.
- “A ball landing out always decides the rally.” A receiving positional fault can take priority under Rule 12.7.2.
Official references
Governing-body sources and effective version
Checked on 28 August 2026 against the current FIVB 2025–2028 rulebook and the later 2026 test announcement. The rulebook is the international indoor baseline. The receiving-position and challenge trials apply only to the competitions named by FIVB; other federations and competitions may issue different service-attempt, timing, line-up or review rules.