Scope
The authority and version used here
This page applies the FIVB Official Volleyball Rules 2025–2028 for six-player indoor volleyball, principally Rules 9, 13 and 14. The edition was approved by the 39th FIVB World Congress in 2024 and is to be implemented in competitions beginning after 1 January 2025.
FIVB is the international governing body for this scope. A national federation, school association, league or tournament may publish additional competition regulations, especially for video review and match administration. Those regulations should be checked for the actual event; this page does not present them as universal indoor rules.
Definition
Four facts make the action a block
FIVB Rule 14.1.1 defines blocking by the action, not by whether the ball rebounds downward. The player must be:
- close to the net;
- trying to intercept a ball coming from the opponent;
- reaching higher than the top of the net; and
- if the ball is touched, have some part of the body higher than the top of the net at that moment.
The actual ball contact can be below the top of the net. Conversely, contact near the net is not automatically a block: if the player's action does not meet the definition, it is an ordinary team hit and counts toward the three.
Attempt or completion
A block is completed only when a blocker touches the ball
Rule 14.1 distinguishes three stages. An attempt is a blocking action with no ball contact. A completed block exists when a blocker touches the ball. A collective block consists of two or three players close to one another and is completed when any one of them touches it.
That collective-block definition matters for eligibility. A player can participate in a completed collective block without personally touching the ball; the teammate's contact completes the group action.
Hit count
Block, then first hit, second hit, third hit
Rule 9.1 allows three team hits in addition to blocking, and Rule 14.4 applies that principle directly. If a legal block deflects the ball back onto the blocking team's side, that team may still dig, set and attack.
The blocker may take the first team hit after the block. That is a stated exception to the normal rule against one player making consecutive contacts: block by Player 3, then dig by Player 3 is legal, and the dig is team hit one. Any later catch, throw, double contact or fourth hit is judged under the ordinary playing-the-ball rules; see double-contact and lift rules.
One action
Rapid contacts can form one block
Under Rule 14.2, one or more blockers may make consecutive contacts when they are quick, continuous and occur during one blocking action. The ball might brush both hands, ricochet from one blocker to another, or touch the same blocker more than once without becoming multiple team hits.
The exception ends with the blocking action. A later, separate effort to play the rebounding ball is the first team hit, even if the same player makes it. The referee therefore judges continuity of the action, not merely the time between audible touches.
Eligibility
Front row, back row and Libero have different thresholds
- Front-row player: may attempt and complete a legal block.
- Back-row player: faults by completing a block or participating in a completed collective block (Rule 14.6.2). A solo attempt with no ball contact is not, by itself, a completed-block fault.
- Libero: may not block or attempt to block (Rules 14.6.6 and 19.3.1.3). No contact is needed for the attempt to be faulty.
Row status comes from the rotational order, not where a player happens to stand after the service. A back-row setter who moves beside the net remains back row for this test. See Libero and back-row restrictions and rotation and overlap.
Across the net
Hands may cross the plane; early interference may not
Rule 14.3 allows a blocker to place hands and arms beyond the net, provided the action does not interfere with the opponent's play. The blocker may not touch the ball in the opponent's space before the opponent executes an attack hit. Hands beyond the plane are therefore not a fault on sight; the location and timing of ball contact decide the issue.
FIVB Rule 13.1.1 treats every action directing the ball toward the opponent as an attack hit, except a service or block. A first or second contact accidentally sent toward the other court can therefore be an attack hit; calling it a “set” does not automatically protect it. But when the ball remains available on the opponent's side for their next play, a blocker cannot reach across and take it before that play. Related net-space rules are explained in net, centre-line and overreach rules.
Serve
The receiving team cannot block the service
Rule 14.5 forbids blocking an opponent's service. A receiving player cannot jump close to the net, reach above it and intercept the serve as a block. The fault gives the serving team the rally point and it continues to serve.
This is separate from the restriction on completing an attack hit on an opponent's service when the ball is in the front zone and entirely above the top of the net (Rules 13.2.4 and 13.3.4). The blocking and attack-hit prohibitions describe different actions.
Ball out
A touch off the block normally makes the blocker last to touch
If an attack touches a legal block and then lands completely outside the boundary, hits an antenna, or otherwise becomes “out,” Rule 14.6.4 makes the ball sent out off the block a fault by the blocking team. The attacking team wins the rally. This is the basis of the familiar “tool the block” play.
If the attack instead goes out untouched, the attacking team faults. A very small deflection can therefore reverse the result. It is inaccurate to say that a block touch “does not count” for every purpose: it does not count as a team hit in indoor volleyball, but it does count when identifying the last touch before the ball goes out.
Opponent contacts
Simultaneous contact above the net is not automatically a fault
When opponents touch the ball simultaneously over the net and it remains in play, Rule 9.1.2.2 gives the team receiving the ball another three hits. If the simultaneous contacts produce an extended contact, play continues under Rule 9.1.2.3, even when that contact finishes above the opponent's court.
This is different from a blocker contacting the ball in the opponent's space before the attack hit. Officials must identify whether the contacts were simultaneous with the opponent's legal play or whether the blocker arrived first and interfered.
Outcome
The first fault ends the rally
A blocking fault awards the rally to the opponent: the opponent scores a point and either continues serving or gains the next service under Rules 6.1.1–6.1.3. There is no continuing advantage phase after a blocking fault; Rule 8.2 treats the ball as out of play at the fault whistled by a referee.
If faults occur successively, Rule 6.1.2.1 counts only the first. If opponents commit faults simultaneously, the referee calls a double fault and replays the rally. That is why the final landing spot does not override an earlier illegal reach, net fault or ineligible block.
Video review
A block touch may be reviewable when the competition uses VCS
The FIVB Video Challenge System Regulations 2025 permit review of a block touch whether the ball then goes out or stays in play. They also list “last touch” for opponent contacts above the net and, where the required technology is operating, reaching beyond the net.
Video review is not an automatic feature of every match using FIVB playing rules. Its availability and procedure depend on the appointed competition regulations and equipment. Under the FIVB system, review can adjust the score, and the first fault revealed in the reviewed action sequence prevails even when it was not the fault originally requested.
Decision path
How to decide a disputed block
- Name the code. Indoor and beach volleyball count a block differently.
- Classify the action. Was the player close to the net, intercepting an opponent's ball and reaching above the net?
- Find contact. No touch means an attempt; a touch completes the block.
- Check status. Was each participant front row, back row or Libero?
- Check space and timing. Did contact beyond the net occur before the opponent's attack hit?
- Track the next contacts. After a legal FIVB indoor block, start a fresh three-hit count.
- Identify the first fault and last touch. These decide the point when the ball goes out or multiple events occur.
Worked case 1
The blocker plays the rebound
Situation: front-row Blue 3 touches Red's attack while legally blocking. The ball drops behind Blue 3, who digs it; Blue then sets and attacks.
FIVB 2025–2028 ruling: legal. The block is outside the team-hit count. Blue 3's dig is hit one, the set is hit two and the attack is hit three. Rule 14.4.2 expressly allows the blocker to make that first hit.
Worked case 2
A back-row setter joins a collective block
Situation: back-row Blue 1 and front-row Blue 2 jump close together in one collective blocking action. Blue 2, but not Blue 1, touches the attack.
FIVB 2025–2028 ruling: blocking fault by Blue. Rule 14.6.2 covers a back-row player who participates in a completed block; Blue 1 need not personally touch the ball because Blue 2's contact completes the collective block.
Worked case 3
The Libero attempts a block but misses
Situation: the Libero jumps close to the net with hands reaching above the top to intercept an opponent's ball, but the ball misses the hands.
FIVB 2025–2028 ruling: Libero blocking fault. Unlike the ordinary back-row completed-block test, Rule 14.6.6 makes the Libero's attempt itself illegal; contact is unnecessary.
Worked case 4
A second contact becomes an overpass
Situation: Red's setter sends the second contact toward Blue's court. At the net, front-row Blue 3 contacts the ball at the same time as, or after, Red's action directs it across. Blue does not touch the net or block outside the antenna.
FIVB 2025–2028 ruling: the contact is not illegal merely because Red intended a set. Red's action toward the opponent is an attack hit under Rule 13.1.1, so Blue may block without waiting for a third contact. If Blue instead reaches into Red's space and touches the ball before Red executes that hit, Blue commits the Rule 14.6.1 fault.
Worked case 5
The attack lands out after a fingertip touch
Situation: Red attacks toward the sideline. The ball brushes Blue's legal block and then lands entirely outside the court.
FIVB 2025–2028 ruling: point to Red because the ball was sent out off Blue's block. If there was no block touch, the same landing would instead be an attack-out fault by Red. Where the competition uses the FIVB challenge system, “block touch” is a reviewable category.
Major variation
Beach volleyball counts the block as hit one
The central indoor answer does not carry over to beach volleyball. Under the FIVB Official Beach Volleyball Rules 2025–2028, Rule 14.4.1 counts a blocking contact as a team hit, leaving only two more hits. The blocker may make the next contact, but that contact is the team's second hit.
National indoor codes, youth modifications and tournament regulations may also supplement the FIVB baseline. Unless a verified difference is stated, consult the rulebook appointed for that match rather than assuming this FIVB indoor explanation controls it.
Common mistakes
Five claims that need qualification
- “A block is the first hit.” Not in FIVB indoor volleyball; it is in FIVB beach volleyball.
- “The blocker cannot play the ball next.” The blocker may make the first indoor team hit after the block.
- “No touch means no blocking fault.” That is wrong for a Libero's block attempt.
- “Only the player who touched can be an illegal blocker.” A back-row participant in a completed collective block can fault without touching.
- “Hands over the net are always illegal.” FIVB permits them when the blocker does not interfere before the opponent's attack hit.
Official references
Governing-body sources and effective versions
Checked on 28 August 2026 against the current edition listed in FIVB's official rules library. The primary scope is six-player FIVB indoor volleyball; beach volleyball is separated because its hit count differs. Competition regulations may determine whether video challenge is available and may supplement match procedures.