Ary Graça Re-elected as FIVB President for Unopposed

Dr. Ary S. Graça F° was today re-elected as President of the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) at the 35th FIVB World Congress in Buenos Aires where he pledged to build on volleyball’s “golden era” of success.

Dr. Graça, who was first elected in 2012 at the FIVB World Congress in Anaheim, USA, stood unopposed for re-election to the FIVB presidency for the period 2016 – 2024 after receiving unanimous support for his candidacy from all five of the FIVB’s Continental Confederations.

The 226 delegates representing 201 federations approved the re-election of Dr. Graça by acclamation at the end of the first day of the two-day Congress.

Dr. Graça said: “Volleyball is undoubtedly in a golden era of success and it is an honour for me to have the prestigious opportunity to build on this great success and take our sport to even greater heights.

“There is no limit to the evolution of volleyball, no limit to the sport’s success and no limit to how many people around the world we can inspire and I promise to help volleyball fulfil its huge potential.

“Thank you to the global volleyball family for believing in my vision, together we will make volleyball the number one family sport entertainment in the world.”

Under his pioneering leadership, volleyball has achieved unprecedented worldwide growth and the sport was the signature event of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. He has helped transform volleyball into an engaging, dynamic and universal sport for all in line with the FIVB’s vision to make volleyball the number one family sport entertainment in the world. His administration of the sport has been underpinned by the FIVB’s core values of innovation, universality and good governance.

Innovation is a key part of the FIVB’s vision as it looks to create a dynamic and engaging sport which appeals to the entire family.

At the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, the FIVB set the standard for fan engagement at an Olympic Games through its new innovations which created a party atmosphere at the Beach Volleyball Arena and the Maracanãzinho. Rio 2016 also demonstrated volleyball’s appeal as a universal sport as nations such as Egypt competed for the very time at an Olympic Games beach volleyball competition.
In September last year, Dr. Graça launched the FIVB’s 9 Goals which set out the federation’s long-term strategic plan developed to help direct the future work of the federation and ensure that it realizes its vision of volleyball becoming the number one family entertainment sport in the world.