Positions, rotation and service order
FIVB · 2025–2028The receiving team’s required order, the serving team’s positioning freedom and the consequences of serving out of turn.
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Rule 7 — Positions at the service hitRule 7 — Movement and positional faultsRule 7 — Serving out of turnRule 7 — Positions at the service hit
At the service hit, all players except the server must be inside their own court. Under this edition, the receiving team must respect rotational positions, but the serving team may arrange itself freely. This freedom does not change a player’s rotational identity, service order or front-row/back-row restrictions.
The front row is numbered 4, 3, 2 from left to right; the back row is 5, 6, 1. For receiving-team position checks, feet touching the floor, or their last floor contact, determine the position. A back-row player must be level with or have part of a foot behind the front foot of the corresponding front-row player. Each outside player must similarly be level with or have part of a foot nearer their sideline than the farther foot of the other players in that row. Diagram 4 illustrates these relationships.
Rule 7 — Movement and positional faults
After the service hit, both teams may move freely around their court and free zone. When the receiving team wins service, it rotates clockwise: position 2 moves to 1 to serve, and position 1 moves to 6. The starting line-up remains the reference for the service sequence throughout the set.
A positional fault awards a point and service to the opponent and requires correction. A serving fault committed at the service hit takes priority over a positional fault; if the service only becomes faulty after the hit, the positional fault takes priority.
Rule 7 — Serving out of turn
A rotational fault occurs when the wrong player serves. Play is stopped, the opponent receives a point and the next service, and the order is corrected. If discovered only after that rally ends, the opponent receives only a single point regardless of the rally’s result.
The scorer identifies when the error began. The faulty team loses points scored from that moment onward; the opponent keeps its points. If the exact moment cannot be established, no earlier points are cancelled: the sanction is a point and service to the opponent.
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