Cyprus Volleyball Federation

Cyprus Volleyball Federation (CVF) (Greek: Kυπριακή Oμοσπονδία Πετοσφαίρισης, Κ.Ο.ΠΕ) (Turkish: Kıbrıs Voleybol Federasyonu (KVF)) is the governing body of volleyball in Cyprus. It organises the first division, second division leagues and a cup competition.

Cyprus Volleyball Federation
Kυπριακή Oμοσπονδία Πετοσφαίρισης
Kıbrıs Voleybol Federasyonu

Formation	1978
Headquarters	Nicosia
Location	Cyprus
President	Damianos Hadjidamianos
Website	www.volleyball.org.cy

Before the Federation's establishment

Volleyball first made its appearance in Cyprus in the 1920s and was first included as a competitive event in the 1928 Pancyprian Games. After the World War II it was played a lot at schools and a Student Championship was established. The Local Committee of SEGAS Cyprus (SEGAS is the sports governing body of Greece) was founded in 1947 and established annual championships between the Gymnastic Clubs and then between those clubs that had a volleyball section. A representative team of Cyprus was invited in 1953 in Egypt to play against Greek and Egyptian teams of Cairo and Alexandria.

On November 23, 1966, the Local Committee of Cypriot Athletes was established by 15 sport clubs as a local federation of the Greek one. In 1971, the first championship took place and APOEL became the Champions. As Winners of a championship which was run by a local committee, APOEL were represented in the Greek National First Division in 1972/73 and in 1973/74 the Cypriot Champions Anorthosis Famagusta. However, Cypriot teams stop taking place in the Greek Championship after the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974.

The establishment and afterwards

The sport, which was originally governed by the Greek Sports federation until 1978, became a separate entity, when the Cyprus Volleyball Federation (CVF) was established. The following clubs were the founding members of the CVF:

AEL Limassol, Anagennisis Deryneia, Anorthosis, APOEL, Apollon Limassol, APOP Paphos, Aris Polemi, Achaeon Akti Gialoussas, Achilleas Kaimakli, E.N.P. Paralimni, Marathon Kato Varosha, Nea Salamis Famagusta, Olympiakos Nicosia, Olympias Neapolis, Olympias Frenaros, Omonia Nicosia, Omonoia Xylotympou, Pezoporikos Larnaca, Phoenix Pyla, EPA Larnaca.

The CVF is a member of Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) and of Confédération Européenne de Volleyball (CEV) and is responsible for representing Cyprus on the international Volleyball stage. Its headquarters are in Nicosia.

Currently the C.V.F. has 25 active clubs, fielding 23 teams in the men's and women's senior competitions, plus as many as 60 teams in junior and youth events. The CVF currently runs the First and Second Division Championships and Cups for both men and women and several junior competitions. The honored teams of First Division Championships and Cups represent Cyprus in European competitions. Also the Federation is responsible for all the national teams in men and women.

Beach Volleyball in Cyprus

The Beach Volley has occurred in Cyprus for the first time on the beaches of Famagusta where you gather the best volleyballers of the island mainly from Famagusta and Nicosia. Tournaments were held daily between athletes and the sport became very popular but was not through the Federation.

The Federation with the foundation in 1978 made several studies and tournaments started being organized by the Federation regional tournament on men and women (5X5, 3X3, 2X2 and 4X4 mixed) and then island-wide since 1987. Slowly began to be upgraded over the years with the last few years have not been anything to envy from other volleyball leagues developed countries.

In 1993 on the initiative of former international volleyballer Anorthosis Christos Angelides, the company H & C Hotels Ltd and the Federation hosted the first unofficial international tournament ever held in Cyprus in the name of Protaras Open in 1996 and renamed Odessa International.

In 1996 CY.V.F. upgraded the championship tournament over Cyprus and the institution was established. The 2000 championship was given to the company "Events One" for five (5) years and since 2006 the Federation reorganizes the tournaments in new and better bases.

The Beach Volley tournament involving the best Cypriot Volleyballers surrogate partners, members of the Nat. Volleyball Teams and more, so the interest is increased and the fan turnout is any time beyond the most optimistic expectations. In 2005 Cypriot athletes participated for the first time in tournament games Small States of Europe. Due to the increased interest Beach Volley receive high visibility from the media and broadcast live the final phase.

The games are played on weekends from morning until night during July and August to beach volleyball courts that now exist in all towns of Cyprus. During this period there are four (4) beach volleyball tournaments held for men and two (2) for women.

The growth of Cyprus beach volleyball can be shown by organising the Cyprus FIVB Challenger 2006 made the Tourist Beach Geroskipou and crowned with complete success. 67 teams participated from 22 countries with prize money of $ 60 000. Paramount importance for the spread of the sport, but also the promotion of Cyprus was the third edition of the World University Championship held at the City Sports Facilities of Paralimni.

Every year in Yeroskipou a major event held by CEV or FIVB has been made. Meanwhile the women's national team of Cyprus has made a lot of successful showings (gold medal in GSSE, silver medal in the European u21 tournament, 7th place in Mediterranean Games, etc.) while the men's team accepted the gold medal in GSSE, the bronze medal in the CEV Satellite challenger in Yeroskipou in 2010, and the 7th position in the Mediterranean Games. Three consecutive times the Cypriot women Manolina Constantinou and Mariotta Angelopoulou have won the Greek series, which shows that the Cypriot team is one of the best in Panhellenic.

From the above, the perceived high activity of the Cyprus Volleyball Federation and the efforts for further progress in our sport. The fact that every year the Cev Challenger is being held in Cyprus with more than 2.000 spectators watching the games shows how high beach volleyball is ranked among Cypriots. It has also been mentioned that in 2015 the CVF is making efforts to organise the World Tour in Paphos.

2010 Pancyprian Beach volleyball rankings

Men's rankings

1. George Platritis 600 600 700 1900
2. Anthimos Economides 600 600 700 1900
3. Andreas Zanis 500 500 500 1500
4. Vasilis MIchael 500 400 500 1400
5. Mikhail Kushnerev 700 700 1400
6. Demetris Apostolou 700 700 1400
7. Constantinos Hadjidamianou 500 400 500 1400
8. Stavros Michaelides 200 500 600 1300
9. Dimitris Challoumas 200 500 600 1300
10. Konstantinos Efstathiou 500 500 1000
11. Giannis Kontos 400 300 200 900
12. Giannos Ilia 200 200 400 800
13. Costas Raftis 300 200 300 800
14. Andreas Tofis 300 200 300 800
15. Antonis Christofi 300 400 700
16. Andreas Savvidis 300 100 300 700
17. Marinos Papachristodoulou 400 200 600
18. Constantinos Achilleos 100 200 300 600
19. Charis Savvidis 400 200 600
20. Marko Klok 500 500
21. Damianos Hadjidamianou 300 200 500
22. Thanasis Polynikis 50 400 450
23. Angelos Alexiou 50 400 450
24. Vladimir Knezevic 400 400
25. Pavlos Konstantinou 200 200 400
26. Pavlos Dragkidis 400 400
27. Doros Tooulias 200 200 400
28. Dima Filippov 400 400
29. Chrysis Chrysostomides 200 200 400
30. Antreas Chrisostomou 300 100 400
31. Stelios Chrysostomou 100 100 100 300
32. Panayiotis Chrysostomou 100 100 100 300
33. Michalis Zacharia 100 200 300
34. George Chrysostomou 300 300
35. Victor Gusarov 100 100 200
36. Nikolas Charalambides 100 100 200
37. Marios Mantzialos 200 200
38. Marios Kontos 200 200
39. Kirill Rudenko 100 100 200
40. Demetris Vamvatsoulis 200 200
41. Antonis Tsangarides 200 200
42. Gabriel Hadjidamianou 200 200
43. Yuriy Filippov 200 200
44. Stefanos Christodoulou 100 50 150
45. Charalambos Kannavias 50 50 50 150
46. Antonis Pistolas 50 100 150
47. Antonis Aristidou 50 100 150
48. Zenonas Severis 50 50 100
49. Yiannis Hadjiphilippou 100 100
50. Panagiotis Michael 100 100
51. Panagiotis Kitrou 50 50 100
52. Nasos Karasavvas 50 50 100
53. Lefteris Ioannou 50 50 100
54. Kyriakos Adamou 100 100
55. Fanos Kaoulas 50 50 100
56. Andreas Pillakouris 50 50 100
57. Marios Vyrides 100 100
58. Omid Homayoun 100 100
59. Valentinos Andreou 50 50
60. Petros Chatzithomas 50 50
61. Panayiotis Sherepeklis 50 50
62. Pampos Spyrou 50 50
63. Nikolas Konstantinidis 50 50
64. Marios Karesas 50 50
65. Giannis Stavrinou 50 50
66. Alexis Kokkinos 50 50
67. Vassilis Agamemnonos 50 50
68. Andreas Spyrou 50 50
69. Panagiotis Michael 50 50
70. Petros Chatzithomas 50 50
71. Minos Agathocleous 50 50
72. Nikolas Karseras 50 50
73. Pampos Spyrou 50 50
74. Stelios Kasikis 50 50

U21 rankings

1. Andreas Savvidis 700 pts
2. Antreas Chrysostomou 400 pts
3. Stelios Chrysostomou 300 pts
4. Panayiotis Chrysostomou 300 pts
5. Nicolas Charalampidis 200 pts
6. Zenonas Severis 150 pts
7. Antreas Pillakouris 100 pts
8. Omid Homayoun 100 pts
9. Marios Vyridis 100 pts
10. Pampos Spyrou 50 pts
11. Pangiotis Michael 50 pts
12. Petros Chatzithomas 50 pts
13. Nicolas Constantinidis 50 pts

External links

• Overview by Cyprus Sport Organisation
• News in Greek for Cyprus Volleyball