39th FIVB World congress took place last weekend in Porto, Portugal 14th -18th November. This was yet another first for me as the President of Scottish Volleyball. Day one was all about getting there. The Scottish delegation, made up of Margaret Ann Fleming MBE, CEO of Scottish Volleyball and FIVB Executive Board member, Blair Pettigrew Head of Development at Scottish Volleyball and me as President for Scottish Volleyball, set off to Porto from our respective airports. Margaret Ann on an early flight from Edinburgh, and Blair and myself, mid-afternoon from Glasgow airport arriving in Amsterdam then catching the next flight on to Porto.
Arriving in Porto around 6.30pm local time we were greeted by the FIVB welcome team who guided us to our airport transfer to the congress hotel. This was one of the three hotels being used to house the 192 world federations who would be attending as well as the army of FIVB staff that would be required to make the weekend function. Arriving at the hotel we made our way upstairs to the accreditation centre pausing quickly for a few photos in front of the official back drop. Once we completed the accreditation me and Blair walked into the congress hall to get our first glimpse of the venue that would host this magnificent event. Inside was a fantastic array of state-of-the-art technology that would be necessary to facilitate the weekend, and rows and rows of tightly packed tables and chairs to accommodate the delegates from around the world. All that was left to do was to make the short trip around the corner to check in to our hotel and make our way down for dinner.
Day two began with and early breakfast and arrival at Congress for a 9am start. Pausing to take official photos we made our way to the congress room which would be our home for the next three days. The day began by listening to the opening of the Congress with a final opening speech by the outgoing FIVB President Ary S Graça followed by a warm welcome for the Portuguese local authority, for the hosting in Porto and finally a massive welcome form the Portuguese Volleyball Federation. Listening to these opening remarks was made so easy as FIVB had a small army of translators situated in soundproof booths at the back of the hall and all delegates had headsets with language selections for ease. After this followed a long session of procedural information relating to the technology that was being used for the voting that would take place over the weekend. Once this was over the congress then listened to many key reports form the FIVB Presidents report, presentation on the FIVB Volleyball Foundation, financial reports FIVB investment reports and the all-important FIVB budget for 2025-2026. These were interspersed by essential coffee breaks and Lunch.
As we reached dinner on day one, there was one final meeting that needed to take place and it was a key one for the Small Countries Association. The plan for this was to update on the progress made in Naples. The main agenda for this meeting was the election of a new President. This meeting took place late, 8pm and after a full day it was hoped it would be quite straight forward. After the technology was sorted there was significant discussions over the process and rules regarding the voting procedure and the voting for the two Presidential candidates got underway. The result saw Gary Stewart of Ireland voted in as new President of the Small Countries Association. He was joined by Federico Valentini (SMR) Agusti Boldu (AND) Blair Pettigrew (SCO) and Joanna McCrory (NIR) day one complete.
Day two was the main day where all the FIVB elections would take place and the ratification of the new FIVB President. The day was full of updates from all Continental Confederation’s Presidents a truly global round up, FIVB council and Commission reports with Volleyball and Beach volleyball reports. As these concluded, we were at the business end of the Congress. The appointment of the new FIVB President and as he stood unopposed, he was unanimously appointed by acclimation. Congratulations goes to the new FIVB President Mr Fabio Azevedo. There then followed two other key votes which were the FIVB Board of Administration and the FIVB Gender in Minority.
As the day ended there was the concluding section of awards to various members of World Volleyball form FIVB for their contribution and development for the world game. Then the Federations who had provided a parting gift for President Ary Graça were invited onto stage to present this gift. This was a privilege for me to walk on stage and present such a prestigious volleyball servant a gift from the Scottish Federation. In traditional fashion I presented President Graça with a sterling silver Quaich and a Malt of suitable stature to accompany such a gift. At the end of this presentation the FIVB staff played a heart-warming video sharing their love and cherished memories of working with Ary over his 12 years as FIVB president. Amid this emotional outpouring the final duties of Ary Graça’s Presidential rein were executed as he officially closed the congress. All that remained was to quickly get back to the hotel and prepare for the final evening’s dinner.
For me as President the weekend was one where people asked me how was the trip to Porto? My response was epic. The connections that I have made will hopefully bear fruit in the development of Scottish Volleyball going forward. The future looks extremely exciting for Scotland and for Volleyballs global family.