A revolutionary change in volleyball! Fans have been demanding this for many years
The European Volleyball Confederation (CEV) will introduce an important change from the 2026/27 season. There will be important changes to the scoring system in the knockout phase.
What does this mean in practice? The absurd rule that could “kill” return matches in European cups, even in the most important stages, will disappear. That is, in the mentioned knockout phase.
The end of absurdity in volleyball. CEV introduces revolutionary changes!
In the case of volleyball competitions, the rule so far was that in the knockout phase the results of matches were counted as in the case of league play. So 3:0 and 3:1 for a full pot, and a win in the tie-break gave two points to the winners and a point to the losing team. The practice in the knockout phase was such that when these results clashed, absurd situations occurred. What exactly? An example would be the quarterfinals of the Champions League with the participation of two PlusLiga clubs.
PGE Projekt Warszawa won against Bogdanka LUK Lublin at home 3:1. Thus, coach Kamil Nalepka’s team collected all the points and went to the rematch… in two sets. These were enough to eliminate the opponents, because PGE Projekt then scored a minimum point – for winning two games.
This scenario actually came true, because the Warsaw team, who were better on aggregate, started the match in Lublin by winning two sets. When the score was 2-0, it became clear that Bogdanka LUK would no longer be able to make up for the losses from the first match in Warsaw. As a result, although the hosts eventually won from 0:2 to 3:2, it was a victory that did not achieve anything.
This will change from the 2026/27 season. Now, to advance to the next stage, you will have to try harder. Each victory in the knockout phase of the volleyball competition will be awarded the same points. In the event of a 1-1 draw in the aggregate, i.e. when each team wins the match, the promotion will be decided by the so-called golden set. That is, an additional game played in the same formula as the tie-break (i.e. up to 15 points or two points).
This change will certainly eliminate the need to play for nothing – apart from the satisfaction of reversing the result, when the opponent still has the promotion achieved e.g. 1.5 hours earlier.
