The Italian Women's Volleyball League has taken a historic step in popularizing the sport by announcing an unprecedented model for distributing matches from Serie A1 and Serie A2. Starting from the 2026/2027 season, three matches from each regular season round will be available for free not only on the League's official channels but also directly on the social media of participating clubs and even the players themselves. This information comes from the league.
This is a first-of-its-kind initiative in Italy, whose main goal is for volleyball to reach as many people as possible. Instead of viewers searching for where a given match is broadcast, the organizers want the matches themselves to reach fans through the platforms they use daily.
The new model is a result of agreements concluded by Spike Media – the joint company of the League and Gameday by NJF, which manages television rights. Rai remains a partner for broadcasting some matches on free-to-air television, and DAZN will offer the entire Serie A1 season, the Scudetto playoffs, the Italian Cup and Supercup, as well as the most interesting matches from Serie A2. The big novelty, however, is the free distribution of three matches from each round via social media.
Spike Media defines the initiative as a revolution in how sports content reaches the public. According to the company, viewer habits are changing, and volleyball needs to be where people are – in front of the TV, on streaming platforms, but also on social media, accessible with a single scroll of the screen.
The League's president, Mauro Fabris, also described the project as a historic moment for Italian women's volleyball. According to him, the combination of traditional television, streaming platforms, and digital channels will help not only satisfy existing fans but also attract new generations of viewers to the strongest club championship in the world.
The news also comes amid discussions in Bulgaria surrounding the television broadcasting of volleyball. Although it concerns different products – club championships in Italy and national teams in Bulgaria – the philosophy behind the two approaches seems different. The Italian League is doing everything possible to expand access to its championship, including through the social networks of clubs and players. In Bulgaria this summer, some matches of the national teams from the Volleyball Nations League were moved to the new channel MAX One, which is not yet distributed by all television operators, limiting access for some viewers to the matches. How the club championships in Bulgaria, currently broadcast on MAX Sport channels, will be broadcast in the future has not yet been announced.

photo: Nikolay Varadinov