A substitution changes the player, not the rotational slot.

The rule and version used here

This page applies to six-player indoor volleyball under the FIVB Official Volleyball Rules 2025–2028, approved by the 39th FIVB World Congress and implemented in competitions beginning after 1 January 2025. The controlling provisions are Rules 7.3–7.7, 12.2, 15 and 19.

Beach volleyball is a separate rules family. National federations, school and university codes, professional leagues and individual events may alter substitution totals, re-entry, Libero service or match procedure. Their appointed rules and competition regulations control those matches.

The line-up creates six continuing slots

Before each set, the coach submits six starters in rotational order. Under FIVB Rules 7.3 and 7.6, that order must be maintained throughout the set:

1. Positions 4, 3 and 2 are the front-row slots from left to right.
2. Positions 5, 6 and 1 are the corresponding back-row slots.
3. When the receiving team wins a rally, it gains a point and the service, then rotates one place clockwise: 2 moves to 1 to serve, 1 moves to 6, and so on.
4. When the serving team wins the rally, it does not rotate. The same server—or a legal substitute occupying that slot—serves again.

A new set receives a new line-up. A change of courts during the deciding set does not change the players' positions.

Standing near the net does not make a player front row

Rotational status follows the line-up slot, not the place a player runs to after service. Once the service is hit, both teams may move anywhere on their court and in the free zone. A back-row setter may move to the net to set, but remains a back-row player for the attack and blocking restrictions. A front-row player who drops into serve reception remains front row.

Only the receiving formation can overlap at the service hit

FIVB Rule 7.4 requires both teams to be within their own court at the service hit, except for the server. The receiving team must also preserve its rotational relationships. Each back-row player must be level with or have part of one foot farther from the centre line than the corresponding front-row player's front foot. Players in each row must preserve their left-to-right order.

The last foot contact with the floor fixes the position of an airborne player. By contrast, the serving team's five court players are free to occupy any arrangement at the service hit under the 2025–2028 baseline. They can still commit a wrong-server rotational fault, and they remain subject to screening and front-row/back-row playing restrictions.

Some current international events use different checkpoints

On 27 February 2026, the FIVB announced tests for the 2026 Volleyball Nations League, FIVB Volleyball U17 World Championships and 2026 Continental Championships. In those events:

• The regular-substitution total rises from six to eight per set.
• The receiving team must be in correct rotational order at the first referee's whistle, but may leave that formation when the server's first service motion begins, including the first step or arm or leg movement.

These are competition tests, not text silently added to the general 2025–2028 rulebook. The announcement does not state that the starter/substitute pairing limits in Rule 15.6 are removed. For one of the named events, use its event instructions alongside the test notice.

Six per set, with one linked starter–substitute pair

Under baseline FIVB Rules 15.1, 15.5 and 15.6, a team has at most six regular substitutions in a set. Each entry of one player for another is a substitution; two player-pairs exchanged in one request therefore use two of the six.

• A starter may leave once in the set and re-enter once.
• The starter may re-enter only into the starter's previous line-up position.
• A substitute may enter only once in the set, for one starter.
• That substitute may be replaced only by the same starter.

Example: if substitute 12 replaces starter 4, only starter 4 may later replace 12. Starter 7 cannot enter for 12, even if the team has unused substitutions. When 4 returns, that linked pair has used two regular substitutions and neither 4 nor 12 may make another regular entry in that set.

The substitute's arrival is the request

Under FIVB Rule 15.10, the substitute must enter the substitution zone ready to play during an interruption—after the ball is out of play and before the whistle for the next service. That entrance starts the request; the normal hand signal is not required except for an injury substitution or one made before the set begins. The scorer or second referee acknowledges the request, and the second referee authorises the exchange.

Several substitutes may report together in one request and are exchanged pair by pair. A team cannot make a second separate substitution request in the same interruption; normally a completed rally must occur before its next request. Forced changes for injury, illness, expulsion or disqualification are exceptions.

Injury or removal can open a route beyond Rule 15.6

If an injured, ill, expelled or disqualified player cannot be replaced legally, FIVB Rule 15.7 permits an exceptional substitution. Any player not then on court may enter except a Libero, the second Libero or either Libero's regular replacement player. The removed player may not return for the rest of the match.

An exceptional substitution is outside the regular Rule 15.6 limits and does not count as a regular substitution, although it is recorded. If no legal or exceptional replacement is possible, an expelled or disqualified player's team is incomplete. If an injured or ill player cannot be replaced legally or exceptionally, Rule 17.1 gives that player one three-minute recovery period in the match; failure to recover makes the team incomplete.

A Libero replacement is not a substitution

FIVB Rule 19.3 allows the Libero to replace any back-row player. These replacements are unlimited and do not use the team's regular-substitution total, but normally a completed rally must separate two Libero replacements. The acting Libero may be replaced only by the regular replacement player for that rotational position or by the second Libero.

The Libero must leave when that slot rotates to position 4. Replacements use the Libero replacement zone while the ball is out of play and before the service whistle. Under this FIVB edition, the Libero may not serve, block or attempt to block and always operates as a back-row player. Other codes may expressly allow a Libero to serve; that is not the FIVB baseline used here.

Overlap, wrong server and illegal entry have different corrections

• Positional fault (Rule 7.5): under the baseline, a receiver is out of the required relative order at the service hit. The opponent gets a point and the next service, and the positions are corrected.
• Rotational fault (Rule 7.7): the wrong player serves. The opponent gets a point and next service, and the order is corrected. If the scorer can establish when the error began, all later points scored by the faulty team are cancelled; the opponent's points remain. If the moment cannot be determined, there is no point cancellation beyond the single fault sanction.
• Illegal substitution after play resumes (Rule 15.9): the opponent gets a point and service, the substitution is reversed, and the faulty team's points since the illegal entry are cancelled. The opponent's points remain.
• Request stopped before play resumes: a prohibited or illegal request is rejected and handled under the improper-request or delay provisions. It does not automatically receive the retrospective Rule 15.9 correction used after play has resumed.

The first service fault can decide which call counts

If the server commits a fault at the instant of service—such as using the wrong server or executing the service improperly—that fault is counted before a receiving positional fault. If the service is executed correctly but later becomes faulty, for example by going out, the earlier positional fault is sanctioned instead. This priority in Rules 7.5 and 12.7 prevents two faults from producing two points.

A serving team appears badly overlapped

Situation: under the standard FIVB 2025–2028 rules, all five non-serving Blue players stand in a tight tactical stack when Blue serves. The correct server is in the service zone.

Ruling: there is no positional fault merely because the serving players do not preserve left-right or front-back relationships. Rule 7.4 frees the serving formation at the service hit. Officials still check the correct server, screening and each player's continuing rotational status.

A receiver leaves early in a 2026 test event

Situation: in the 2026 Volleyball Nations League, Red is correctly ordered at the referee's service whistle. Red's setter starts moving on the server's first arm movement, before contact.

Ruling: the movement is permitted by the announced 2026 test. In a match using only the baseline FIVB 2025–2028 text, the receiving order instead remains controlled at the service hit. The competition identity changes the checkpoint.

A coach tries to redirect a substitute

Situation: starter 4 left for substitute 12. Later in the same set, the coach sends starter 7 to replace 12.

FIVB 2025–2028 ruling: reject the request. Rule 15.6 links 12 to starter 4, so only 4 can make the regular re-entry. If 7 enters illegally and play resumes, apply Rule 15.9: point and service to the opponent, rectify the line-up and cancel the faulty team's points scored since the illegal entry.

The wrong server is discovered three points later

Situation: Blue serves out of order and scores three points before the scorer establishes exactly when the wrong server began.

FIVB 2025–2028 ruling: award the opponent a point and next service, correct Blue's order and cancel the three points Blue scored after the fault began. Any opponent points during that span remain. If the exact starting moment cannot be established, do not cancel additional points.

The Libero tries to switch back without a rally

Situation: the Libero replaces middle blocker 8, then before any completed rally tries to leave for 8 again without one of Rule 19.3.2.1's narrow exceptions.

FIVB 2025–2028 ruling: it is an illegal Libero replacement. If noticed before the next service, correct it and apply the delay procedure. If noticed only after the service hit, apply the consequences of an illegal substitution.

How to analyse a line-up problem

1. Name the competition and version. Check whether the FIVB baseline, a 2026 test or another code applies.
2. Identify the line-up slot. Use the submitted order, not the player's tactical label or current spot on court.
3. Ask whether service changed hands. Rotate only after the receiving team wins the right to serve.
4. Use the correct position checkpoint. Baseline receivers are judged at service hit; named 2026 tests use the whistle and first service motion.
5. Separate position from service order. An overlap is not the same fault as the wrong player serving.
6. Classify the personnel change. Regular substitution, exceptional substitution and Libero replacement have different limits.
7. Check when the error was found. Detection before the next service can produce a different procedure from discovery after play resumes.
8. Apply the precise correction. Correct positions or personnel, award point and service where required, and cancel only the points the rule directs.

Five shortcuts that produce the wrong ruling

• “Both teams can overlap at service.” Under the FIVB baseline, only the serving formation is free; receivers still have relative-position duties.
• “Players rotate after every rally.” Rotation occurs only when the receiving team wins the right to serve.
• “A substitute can replace anyone on the way back in.” Rule 15.6 ties a substitute to one starter and one line-up position for that set.
• “The Libero uses substitutions.” Libero replacements are a separate, unlimited procedure with their own timing and pairing rules.
• “The 2026 eight-substitution test changed volleyball everywhere.” The FIVB announcement names specific 2026 competitions and says the tests remain subject to review.

Governing-body sources and effective version

• FIVB — Official Volleyball Rules 2025–2028, implemented after 1 January 2025: Rules 7.3–7.7, 12.2, 15, 17.1 and 19
• FIVB — Board-approved rule tests for the 2026 international season, 27 February 2026: receiving-team rotation and eight substitutions

Checked on 28 August 2026 against the current FIVB 2025–2028 rulebook and the official 2026 test announcement. The rulebook is the international baseline; the announced tests apply only to the named events, and event-specific instructions or another appointed national code may supplement or replace that baseline.