Any contact with a boundary line makes the ball in.

The ruleset used on this page

This page covers standard six-player indoor volleyball under FIVB 2025–2028, especially Rules 1.3, 6.1, 8.2–8.4, 10.1–10.3, 13.3.2 and 14.4–14.6. That edition was approved by the 39th FIVB World Congress in 2024 and took effect for competitions beginning after 1 January 2025.

It does not claim that beach volleyball, a national federation, a school code or a recreational gym uses every FIVB procedure. Local competition regulations can alter facility rules and review procedures. A specific 2026 FIVB ceiling-contact test is identified below because it differs from the published international baseline.

“Where was the ball?” is not the whole ruling

An official may need to decide two different things:

1. What made the ball out of play? It may have grounded in, grounded out, touched an antenna or outside object, or crossed the net illegally.
2. Which team committed the fault? The last touch and any earlier fault determine who loses the rally.

For example, a spike that brushes the block and lands beyond the end line is physically out, but FIVB Rule 14.6.4 makes sending the ball out off the block a blocking fault. The attacking team wins that rally. “Ball out” does not always mean “point to the team that let it land.”

How to analyse an in-or-out rally

1. Identify the first fault. Under Rule 6.1.2.1, a fault that occurred before the landing controls the rally.
2. If the ball met the floor, watch the complete contact. Any line contact during that floor contact makes it in; a later bounce or roll does not.
3. If there was no floor contact, check Rule 8.4. Look for an outside object or person, ceiling, antenna, outside-net contact, illegal external-space crossing, or complete crossing through the lower space.
4. Check the external-space exception. A first team hit that travels into the opponent's free zone outside the antenna may sometimes be recovered under Rule 10.1.2.
5. Establish the last touch and award the rally. The team responsible for the out fault loses the rally; the winner scores a point and serves next or continues serving.

The contact patch, not the ball's centre, decides

FIVB Rule 8.3 says the ball is in if, at any moment of its contact with the floor, some part of it touches the court, including the boundary lines. A fast ball can deform on impact, so a still image of the ball's centre is not the legal test. Officials and an in/out review look for the ball's floor-contact area.

The lines are 5 cm wide and the sidelines and end lines are drawn inside the court dimensions under Rules 1.3.1–1.3.2. Therefore the entire painted boundary line counts as court. A contact on the outer edge of the paint is still in; visible floor space between the contact patch and the line means out.

The free zone is playable, but it is not the court

Rule 8.4.1 makes a landing out only when all parts of the ball that contact the floor are completely outside the boundary lines. The free zone surrounding the court gives players room to play the ball, but it does not count as court for a landing.

A player may leave the court to save an airborne ball. FIVB Rule 9 also permits retrieval from beyond the team's own free zone and over the full extension of the scoring table. The player's position does not make the ball out. The rally ends if the ball itself lands outside or meets another Rule 8.4 condition.

An earlier fault beats a later line contact

FIVB Rule 6.1.2.1 counts only the first of successive faults. If an attacker touches the net illegally and the ball then lands on the opponent's end line, the line contact would be in, but the earlier net fault already decided the rally. Likewise, a service foot fault is not cured because the served ball later lands in.

If opponents commit faults simultaneously, Rule 6.1.2.2 requires a double fault and replay. This is why a replay should be analysed in time order rather than by looking only at the final landing.

A touch decides which side sent the ball out

An untouched attack that lands completely outside is an attack-hit fault under Rule 13.3.2. If a blocker touches the attack and the ball then lands outside, Rule 14.6.4 treats the ball sent out off the block as a blocking fault. A defender's non-block touch before the ball goes out likewise changes which team was last responsible for the ball.

Do not confuse responsibility for an out ball with the hit count. Rule 14.4.1 says a block contact is not a team hit, so the blocking team still has three hits if the ball remains live. The same contact can nevertheless be decisive evidence when the ball immediately goes out.

A ball can be out before it has a chance to land

Rule 10.1.1 requires a ball sent to the opponent's court to pass through the crossing space: above the top of the net, between the antennas and their imaginary upward extensions, and below the ceiling. Rule 8.4.3 makes the ball out when it touches an antenna, a rope or post, or the net outside a side band.

A ball that passes partly or completely outside the crossing space is also out under Rule 8.4.4, subject to the narrow first-hit recovery exception below. It does not matter that the ball might otherwise have landed inside the opponent's court. A ball heading through the lower space under the net remains live only until it has completely crossed the vertical plane; complete crossing makes it out under Rules 8.4.5 and 10.1.3.

Only a first-hit ball can use the recovery exception

FIVB Rule 10.1.2 allows a ball coming from the first hit of the team to be recovered after it crosses partly or totally through the external space into the opponent's free zone. The team must return it within its remaining hits, the retrieving player must not unlawfully touch the opponent's court, and the ball must cross back through the external space on the same side of the court. The opponent may not prevent the recovery.

This exception is narrower in the 2025–2028 text than many shorthand explanations suggest. If the second or third team hit travels into the opponent's free zone through the external space, Rule 10.1.2.3 says it cannot be played back and is out when it crosses the net plane. A return that comes back through the crossing space or around the opposite antenna is also out.

Touching the net does not by itself make the ball out

Rule 10.2.1 permits the ball to touch the net while crossing. A serve that clips the net and then passes legally into the receiving court remains live; if it lands on a receiving-court boundary line, it is in. A ball driven into the net may also be recovered within the team's three hits under Rule 10.3.1.

The exceptions are about where the ball goes and what it touches: an antenna or net outside the side band is out, and a serve passing outside the crossing space is a fault. Separate service-order, contact or foot faults may occur before the landing. See serving faults and let serves for those tests.

The published FIVB baseline treats a ceiling contact as out

Under FIVB Rule 8.4.2, the ball is out when it touches an object outside the court, the ceiling or a person out of play. The rally ends at that contact; where the ball would have landed is irrelevant. Rule 8.4.3 separately lists antennas, ropes, posts and the net outside the side bands.

Recreational gyms often adopt local overhead-obstruction rules, but those are not part of the FIVB baseline. The match's competition regulations or stated ground rules must be checked before treating a ceiling rebound as playable.

Selected 2026 events use a different ceiling procedure

FIVB announced a competition test on 27 February 2026 for the 2026 Volleyball Nations League, FIVB Volleyball U17 World Championships and 2026 Continental Championships. In those events, if the first or second ball contacts venue infrastructure above the field of play and remains playable on the same side, the rally continues. A rebound into the opponent's court is a fault; contact with a spider cam or crane cam inside the field of play produces a replay.

This is an event-specific test, not a silent rewrite of Rule 8.4.2 for every FIVB-style match. Outside a competition adopting the test, use the published 2025–2028 ceiling rule unless the appointed regulations say otherwise.

The ball flattens onto the outer edge of the line

Situation: the ball's centre is outside the sideline, but its contact patch reaches the painted line during impact.

FIVB 2025–2028 ruling: ball in under Rule 8.3. The decisive fact is some line contact at a moment during the floor contact, not the position of the centre or the proportion of the ball outside.

A fingertip sends the attack beyond the end line

Situation: an attack would have travelled out, but it brushes a legal block before landing completely beyond the end line.

FIVB 2025–2028 ruling: point to the attacking team. The ball is out under Rule 8.4.1, but the touch makes it a ball sent out off the block under Rule 14.6.4. The “block does not count as a team hit” rule does not erase the touch.

A net fault occurs before a ball lands on the line

Situation: the attacker illegally contacts the net during the action of playing the ball; the ball then lands on the opponent's end line.

FIVB 2025–2028 ruling: the attacker loses the rally. The landing is in, but Rule 6.1.2.1 counts the earlier net fault first.

A shanked reception travels outside the antenna

Situation: the first team hit crosses outside the antenna into the opponent's free zone. A teammate runs around the post, does not unlawfully touch the opponent's court and sends the ball back through the same external space with the second hit.

FIVB 2025–2028 ruling: play continues under Rule 10.1.2, leaving one team hit. If the original ball had come from the second hit, it would instead be out as soon as it crossed the net plane.

A dig rebounds from overhead infrastructure

Situation: a team's first ball hits venue infrastructure above the court and falls back, still playable on that team's side.

Published FIVB 2025–2028 ruling: ball out under Rule 8.4.2. Named 2026 test-event ruling: continue play in the VNL, FIVB U17 World Championships or a 2026 Continental Championship applying the announced test. The competition appointment, not a general custom, decides which answer applies.

Line judges assist; the first referee controls the decision

Under Rule 29.2, line judges signal in or out when the ball lands near their assigned lines. They also signal a receiving-team touch on an out ball, antenna contacts, specified outside-crossing faults and service foot faults. The first referee directs the match and may overrule another official whose decision is mistaken under Rule 23.2.1.

The landing and the touch are different observations. A line judge can signal that the ball landed out and also identify a touch that changes the team at fault.

Review procedure depends on the competition technology

Under the FIVB Video Challenge System Regulations 2025, an automated in/out system supplies the line decision and removes team challenges for that category. Where automation is not used, the challenge menu includes side- and end-line in/out, block touch, antenna touch and floor touch; “last touch” review is limited to identifying the final contact after simultaneous opponents' contacts above the net. Inconclusive video leaves the original referee's decision in place, and the first fault found in the reviewed sequence prevails.

FIVB's selected 2026 test events add mid-rally bookmarking and expand review to touches in defence and serve reception, with clear visible contact required to overturn the original call. Those events also test using no whistle for a ball landing clearly in or out. The absence of a whistle does not keep the ball live; it changes the communication procedure, not the substantive in/out test. See challenge and replay rules for the full process.

Six shortcuts that produce the wrong call

• “Most of the ball was out.” Proportion is irrelevant; any floor contact with the line makes it in.
• “The first frame showed it outside.” Rule 8.3 asks whether it touches the court at any moment of the floor contact.
• “The player was outside, so the ball was out.” Players may chase an airborne ball beyond the court.
• “It hit the net, so it was out.” Net contact can be legal; antenna and outside-side-band contacts are not.
• “A block touch does not count.” It does not count as a team hit, but it can determine responsibility for an out ball.
• “Every ceiling rebound is either always dead or always playable.” The published FIVB rule, the named 2026 test and local gym rules can give different answers.

Governing-body sources and effective version

• FIVB — Official Volleyball Rules 2025–2028, Rules 1.3, 6.1, 8.2–8.4, 9, 10.1–10.3, 13.3.2, 14.4, 14.6.4, 23.2.1 and 29.2
• FIVB — Video Challenge System Regulations 2025, clauses 3, 13 and 20
• FIVB Board of Administration — rule tests for specified 2026 competitions, announced 27 February 2026

Checked against the FIVB 2025–2028 indoor rulebook, effective for competitions beginning after 1 January 2025, the FIVB Video Challenge System Regulations 2025 and the official 2026 test notice. The ceiling and challenge tests apply only where the named competition has adopted them; national, school and local regulations may supplement the FIVB baseline.