Why does one volleyball player wear a different colour jersey?

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

The Paris 2024 Olympic volleyball competition has got underway, and keen-eyed spectators will have noticed that one of the players on each team is wearing a different-coloured top to their teammates.

The player in question, known as a libero, is a defensive specialist, and their jersey contrasts the rest of the team’s outfit, but is usually still in one of the nation’s official colours.

A volleyball squad has 12 members, and two of them can be assigned as ‘libero’, a position that comes with restrictions. They are only allowed in the back row, and cannot block an attack at the net or jump and spike a ball in the front row.

The position was introduced by the International Volleyball Federation in 1996, and the organisation is in charge of the sport at the Games.

The different coloured top is to aid referees to be able to see them easily and enforce the restrictions of the position.

Volleyball has been in the Olympics since the debut at Tokyo 1964, and matches are the best of five sets. The first four sets are played until one reaches 25 points, and if the teams are tied after four sets, the final set is played for, but only until a team scores 15 points.

The libero is one of the positions in the sport, which also has a setter, middle blocker, outside hitter and weakside hitter.

Although the squads can have 12 players, only six are allowed on the court at any one time, and they are separated by a net in the middle.

Teams can have three consecutive touches before they have to hit the ball into the opposing side of the net.