Section 7: Violations & Penalties
7.1 Faults and Consequences (Rule 6.1, FIVB Official Volleyball Rules 2025–2028)
A fault is a playing action that is contrary to the rules. The referees judge faults and determine the consequences according to the rules. If two or more faults are committed successively, only the first fault is considered. If two or more faults are committed simultaneously by opponents, a double fault is declared and the rally is replayed (Rule 6.1.2).
7.2 Playing Faults
- Foot fault (Rule 13.2.2): Server contacts the end line or court, or steps outside the service zone, at the moment of service contact. Consequence: point and service to opponent.
- Four Hits (Rule 12.1): A team contacts the ball more than 3 times before returning it over the net. Consequence: point to opponent.
- Double Contact (Rule 12.4): A player hits the ball twice in succession or contacts it with two body parts non-simultaneously. Consequence: point to opponent (except on first team contact including a block).
- Catch/Carried Ball (Rule 11.2): The ball is caught or thrown rather than hit; it visibly comes to rest during contact. Consequence: point to opponent.
- Net Fault — Player (Rule 16.2): A player touches the net or the top band between the antennae during play. Consequence: point to opponent. Contact with net below the top band or net posts does not constitute a fault unless it interferes with play.
- Crossing the Centre Line (Rule 11.3.3): A player touches the opponent's court with any part of the body beyond the centre line, while it constitutes a fault only when it interferes with the opponent's play. Contact with the centre line itself (or over the line when not interfering) is permitted as of the 2025 rules.
- Penetration Under the Net (Rule 16.3): A player penetrates into the opponent's space under the net, interfering with play. Consequence: point to opponent.
- Ball Out of Bounds (Rule 11.3): Ball lands outside the court lines (excluding contact with antenna/post/objects outside the court boundaries). Consequence: point to opponent.
- Attack Hit Fault (Rule 14.2–14.5): Including back-row player attacking above net height from in front of the attack line, Libero attacking above net height, or attacking from the opponent's space. Consequence: point to opponent.
- Blocking Fault (Rule 15.3–15.4): Back-row player or Libero completes a block; player blocks beyond the antenna; player screens the server. Consequence: point to opponent.
- Serve Fault (Rule 13.3): Ball fails to pass over the net, lands out of bounds, passes over or outside the antenna, touches a player of the serving team. Consequence: point and service to opponent.
- Positional/Rotation Fault (Rule 7.4–7.7): A player is not in the correct position at service contact, or the team serves out of rotation order. Consequence: point to opponent; team returns to correct rotation order and any points won while in faulty rotation are canceled.
7.3 Conduct Penalties (Rule 21)
Misconduct includes rude behavior, offensive behavior, and aggression. Sanctions are applied progressively (Rule 21.1):
- Warning (yellow card): No point or service lost; recorded in the score sheet. Issued for minor unsportsmanlike conduct.
- Penalty (red card): Opponent awarded a point and service. Issued for rude conduct after a warning or for serious rude conduct directly.
- Expulsion (red + yellow cards shown together): Player/coach must leave the playing area for the remainder of the set. No further point lost. Issued for offensive conduct.
- Disqualification (red + yellow cards shown separately): Player/coach must leave the competition venue for the remainder of the match. Issued for aggression or repeated offensive conduct.
Delay sanctions (Rule 21.2) may be applied for delays caused by a team: delay warning (yellow card), then delay penalty (red card) for each subsequent delay in the same set. Delay sanctions are recorded on the score sheet and are independent of conduct sanctions.
7.4 Illegal Substitution and Lineup Errors
An illegal substitution (Rule 15.6) results in a point for the opponent and the team returns to its correct lineup. If the illegal substitution is discovered after play has resumed, the illegally substituted player must leave; any points won during the illegal substitution are cancelled and awarded to the opponent (Rule 15.6.2). Lineup errors discovered during or after a set follow Rule 7.5 (line-up sheet errors).