The history of beach volleyball

At least since the 90s, when beach volleyball became an Olympic sport, there has been an immense hype about the young sport, which is now one of the most up-and-coming in the world.

We are happy and proud to be part of this success story since 2015 and to be able to create goosebumps moments for players and fans with the most spectacular beach volleyball action, unique locations, and breathtaking photo shoots in person and via our digital channels.

HOW EVERYTHING STARTED

In 1915, George David Center and his friends were the first to play volleyball on the sand. He set up a net on Waikiki Beach in Hawaii and encouraged his colleagues to play a game of six versus six.

Seven years later, the Santa Monica Beach Club was founded and by 1927 five more clubs were established in California. As a result, Southern California was designated the birthplace of beach volleyball.

BEACH VOLLEYBALL FINDS ITS WAY TO EUROPE

In 1927, the new sport reached the "old world". Nudists from a Parisian suburb acted as pioneers. Beach volleyball was first played in a camp in Franconville. During the 1930s, the first beach volleyball games could be noticed in Prague, Riga and Sofia.

THE FIRST TOURNAMENTS

In 1947, the first tournament was organized. One year later, in 1948, the winner received his first "trophy money" – a six-pack of Pepsi.

During the early 1950s, the first series of tournaments arose, consisting of five single tournaments. The connection between the sport, entertainment, sex appeal and the arising marketing trend became stronger and stronger – and "beachmania" was born.

THE 60S AND 70S – SEX, DRUGS AND REGULATIONS

The ever-increasing number of beach volleyball events soon developed into giant parties. Although aiming to preserve the fun factor, the California Beach Volleyball Association released its first regulations in 1965. This standardization of rules and superior entities was required to ensure the quality of the growing number of tournaments being held.

In 1974, the first sponsored tournament took place. The Winston Company invested USD 1,500 which were used as prize money for a tournament held in San Diego.

The Olympia Beer Championships at State Beach in 1976 attracted 30,000 spectators and this tournament is still considered to be the origin of the event concept as far as beach volleyball is concerned.

THE 1980S – THE FIRST PROFESSIONALS

The most important element in sports are the athletes. In the early 1980s, some promoters seemed to disregard this, instead organizing tournaments poorly and neglecting the players’ needs and proposals.

Therefore, the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) was founded in 1983. In 1985, that ‘volleyball trade union’ started organizing its own tours. The prize money for their tour equaled an amount of USD 275,000.

In the mid-1980s, more and more non-American teams participated in AVP tournaments – with players from Brazil trying to enter the US-domain.

Then, in 1987, the international volleyball association, the FIVB, established the World Tour, giving players a platform to play at the highest level around the globe in professionally organized events.

Different regulations and fights for broadcasting times and sponsors’ funds caused a deep conflict between the FIVB and the AVP, leading to mutual suspensions for the players.

THE 1990S – BEACH VOLLEYBALL BOOM

Beach volleyball’s break through was in 1992 in Almeria (Spain). Here, a demonstration tournament was held as counterpart to the Olympic Games. The enormous interest led to a nomination as an Olympic discipline at the Games in Atlanta 1996.

The number of international tournaments, which took place on five continents, rose extremely in the mid-nineties and so did the prize money.

The first Olympic beach volleyball gold medals were awarded to the United States; Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes in the men’s competition and Jackie Silva and Sandra Pires of Brazil in the women’s competition.

In 1997, the first official Beach Volleyball World Championships took place. At this point the sport was being dominated by some brilliant Brazilians. Para/Guilherme won the men’s and Silva/Pires the women’s final. The championship resulted in an international match between the USA and Brazil as both the women and men had four teams each within the best eight.

THE MILLENNIUM

Just in time for the new Millennium, the second Olympic beach volleyball championship took place in front of the breathtaking Sydney scenery. At this point, beach volleyball was ranked second in the category of ‘the most loved’ Olympic disciplines.

The success story continued with the Olympic Games 2004 in Athens, 2008 in Beijing, and 2012 in London. Not only did the sport's competitiveness increase, but also the popularity of beach volleyball. At the 2012 Games in London, tickets for the beach volleyball tournament were among the most popular and matches were played in front of packed crowds at the Horse Guards Parade.

SINCE 2015

The new Beach Volleyball Major Series, a joint venture between Red Bull and ACTS supported by the FIVB as governing body, was introduced with one big goal: to create a new series for the best athletes in the world and a great experience for fans whether on site or in front of the TV screens.

Playing a major role in the FIVB’s World Tour, the Beach Major Series’ debut season of 2015 saw three tour stops in Croatia, Norway and Switzerland before the inaugural World Tour Finals tournament was held in Fort Lauderdale.

If 2015 was heralded a success, then 2016 went one big step further. The Olympics were held on the iconic Copacabana beach and packed crowds roared on Brazilian team Alison/Bruno to win gold in the men’s tournament. Europe, however, celebrated with gold in the women’s competition as Germany’s Ludwig/Walkenhorst claimed the top spot on the podium.

The Beach Major Series expanded as well, adding Klagenfurt, Austria and Hamburg, Germany to the roster of tournaments.

After the success of the Olympics came the World Tour Finals, which saw the curtain come down on a fantastic season on the sand with packed crowds and intense competition. Alison/Bruno and Ludwig/Walkenhorst claimed gold to cap an unforgettable season – perhaps the best in beach volleyball’s history to date.

The 2017 season was dominated by the brilliant World Championships hosted in Vienna, Austria, where almost 200,000 fans witnessed arguably the biggest beach volleyball tournament in the sport's history. Although the gold medals went to Brazil's Evandro and Andre and the irrepressible Ludwig and Walkenhorst, the undoubted heroes were Austria's very own Clemens Doppler and Alex Horst who earned a career-best finish when winning a silver medal.

NEW ERA

If previous seasons had belonged to the so-called 'old guard' the 2018 campaign saw the sport's youngsters step up and announce themselves on the world stage. This was the case with young Norwegians Anders Mol and Christian Sørum. The pair, only 21 and 22 at the time, went on a winning spree, making history by becoming the youngest winners of a Beach Major Series tournament when winning their first-ever World Tour gold in Gstaad. The pair then won the European title, made back-to-back Major golds when winning in Vienna and on top of that took the final title of the season in Hamburg. Not to be outdone in the women's game, 20-year-old Duda wrote herself into the history books by becoming the youngest World Tour Finals champ when winning with Agatha in Hamburg.

New personalities and even more attention from sports fans around the world also formed the basis for the next historic beach volleyball spectacle: The 2019 Beach Volleyball World Championships presented by comdirect and ALDI Nord in Hamburg – with 130,000 spectators. A crowd raged, the spectator numbers broke all German records and the action at the Red Bull Beach Arena at Rothenbaum went absolutely wild. While in 2019 many long-standing teams separated and new ones formed, trying to position themselves for the Olympic Games, it was the young guns that took their chance – in addition to the Norwegian Vikings, Clemens Wickler and Julius Thole from Germany stood out in particular, as did the newly crowned Russian World Champions Oleg Wladislawowitsch Stojanowski and Vyacheslav Krassilnikov.

At the Olympic Games in the summer of 2021, it was once again evident that beach volleyball remains the ultimate crowd favorite. With the victory of Mol/Sørum, the changing of the guard was definitely confirmed. In the following year 2022, the two Norwegians continued to dominate action on the world stage and, among other wins, secured the world championship title for the first time at the World Championships in Rome. They were also victorious at the inaugural A1 CEV BeachVolley Nations Cup in Vienna, alongside their compatriots Berntsen/Mol. This tournament introduced a new format to the sport which saw eight European nations battle for the trophy in the Red Bull Beach Arena. Each nation was represented by four players per gender category.

The 2023 season continued to be dominated by the young, especially with Swedish youngsters Åhman/Hellvig making a name for themselves. After they topped the podium at the European Championships in Munich in the year prior, they claimed the title once more at the A1 CEV EuroBeachVolley Vienna 2023. Shortly after, they also took the silver medal at the World Championships in Tlaxcala, Mexico. Gold went to the Czech surprise duo Perušič/Schweiner, the first Czech duo to make it this far in the competition. Beyond these events, Åhman/Hellvig also claimed gold medals at the Elite16 events in Tepic, Hamburg and João Pessoa, the King of the Court tournament in Rotterdam, as well as the World Finals in Doha. It is no wonder that the two quickly climbed to the number two spot in the world, right behind their fellow Skandinavians Mol/Sørum.

As for the women, Duda continued to show her prowess with her new partner Ana Patrícia, with whom she won the world championships in 2022. In 2023, they stood on the international podium no less than nine times, claiming bronze at the Uberlândia Elite16 and the Doha World Finals, silver at the Tepic Elite16 and the World Championships, and gold at the Elite16 events in Ostrava, Gstaad, Hamburg, Paris and João Pessoa. These successes righfully earned them the number one spot in the world ranking.