it did not take long for volleyball to spread across the globe, eventually arriving in brazil - there are two conflicting stories of volleyball's arrival to the country - the first theory is that it was played in 1915 at colégio marista de recife - the second theory states that volleyball actually came to brazil sometime between 1916 and 1917 on the initiative of the ymca.

whilst there are doubts over the validity of both versions, there are none over the first official volleyball club in the country- it was in the fluminense club, right in the centre of rio de janeiro, that organized the first tournament in brazil in 1923.

additionally, rio de janeiro was chosen as the first city in south america to host the volleyball world championships - it was held at clube carioca in 1995, with the brazil national team winning both the male and female tournaments.