Sanctions, sealing & offline scoring
What you’ll achieve: a clear picture of what the digital scoresheet (acta) records beyond the score — and why a closed acta can be trusted as the record of the match.
The basics — starting a playing day, captains signing, scoring point by point, closing — are in Referees & digital scoresheet. For tournaments, the switch that turns the acta on or off is in Tournaments for federations.
Read the transcript
Nineteen all, first set. The paper scoresheet is soaked, the pen has given up… and here comes the wind.
There's a better way.
Meet the acta digital: the official scoresheet, filled in by the app.
In the Competition Manager, open Actas.
Every competition is recorded on its federation's official form: seven for beach, thirteen for indoor.
They look alike… so let's play spot the difference!
The FIVB beach sheet: service order, a forty-four point ladder, the technical time-out.
The Balearic A2 adds a column for ball-mark checks… and a medical chart.
Its one-set version fits on one page.
The four-player version adds a coach.
And the Canary winter circuit? One set to twenty-one, no technical time-out.
Indoors, the Spanish national sheet has six positions, five sets, substitutions and the libero.
The FIVB and CEV sheet adds technical time-outs at eight and sixteen.
The under-twelve sheets play four against four… and the simplest one just keeps the score.
Match day! With a PRO rulebook, every match has its acta.
On the referee's phone, both captains read the sheet and sign before the first serve.
Then every rally is one tap.
A time-out… a delay warning… the technical time-out at twenty-one…
and each one lands in the right box of the official sheet.
No signal? The points stay on the phone until it's back.
After the last point, the captains, the scorer and both referees sign, in that order.
The first referee signs last and closes the acta.
Out comes the official sheet, as a PDF.
For organizers: in your tournament's Actas board, switch the acta digital on, and pick the form, per tournament, phase or league.
Every closed acta lands in the archive: search by player, team or referee, and download one… or a whole ZIP.
Your federation's form isn't listed? Send it to hola at volley world app dot com, and we'll build it.
No more soggy paper.
One tap per rally, the official sheet every time. That easy!
Sanctions and incidents
Section titled “Sanctions and incidents”The referee records them on the phone with Incident, on the side of the team concerned. Before the match, between sets and after the match, the organizer can also record them from the Competition Manager; during a set they are recorded on the device that keeps the score.
| Sanction | Effect on the match |
|---|---|
| Warning | Recorded, no effect on the score. |
| Penalty | Point and service to the opponent. |
| Expulsion | The member leaves for the rest of the set. |
| Disqualification | The member leaves for the rest of the match. |
| Delay warning / Delay penalty | The first delay of a team is a warning; every later one is a penalty. |
| Incomplete team (set) / Incomplete team (match) | The team loses the set or the match; the opponent gets the points (and sets) it still needs. |
| Default / forfeit | Every set is lost 0 to the set target. |
| Improper request, Waiting time, Recovery time (injury) | Recorded with their time. |
The app follows the sanction scale for the referee: it suggests the next step (Per the scale), warns when an entry is below the scale — the referee can still Record anyway — and blocks only entries that are impossible. In indoor volleyball the scale counts per member for the whole match; in beach volleyball, per set. For a team that does not turn up, the referee records A team did not appear after the waiting time.
On the PDF, every sanction is printed in its box or in the remarks; expulsions, disqualifications, incomplete teams and defaults are always described in the remarks too.
In the standings, a sealed default becomes a walkover for the other team, scored with the Walkover win and Walkover loss points of the league’s points table (Create the league).
What your rulebook decides
Section titled “What your rulebook decides”In the Rulebook Manager, the match-format step has E-scoresheet: match rules:
- the match format on the scoresheet;
- Sanctions for the coach — the FIVB scale, or the FCVB rule (yellow = warning, red = point);
- the Waiting time before a default;
- Incomplete team — the FIVB rule or the FCVB circuit rule;
- a shortcut, Apply the FCVB circuit rules.
In a league, the rulebook picker also links to Sanctions and the score sheet: rules and articles, a read-only summary of the rules and the articles they come from.
Closing signatures
Section titled “Closing signatures”After the last rally the acta goes to Acta · After the match. The signatures follow a fixed order: both captains, then the scorer and the 2nd referee (when they are named on the match), and the 1st referee last, with Close acta and save result.
- Anyone except the 1st referee may refuse: Refused to sign, with a reason, witnessed by the referee.
- Remarks lock once the closing signatures start.
- A signature belongs to what was signed: if the content changes afterwards, the signatures it affects are dropped and must be given again.
- A default before the first rally needs only the 1st referee.
The server seal
Section titled “The server seal”When the 1st referee closes the acta, the server takes custody of it: it checks the signatures, records a fingerprint (SHA-256) of the whole signed sheet and locks it read-only. The fingerprint is printed on the PDF.
- PRO rulebook: an acta is only ever sealed by the server. Without a connection the close is refused — nothing is lost, the referee closes again once online.
- Amateur rulebook: the referee may close without the server — Close without the server’s custody? — and the PDF then says SIN CUSTODIA DEL SERVIDOR.
- An acta that no longer matches its fingerprint prints NO VERIFICADA.
Only the organizer, the officials and the referees of the match — and its players, where the competition lets players record results — can write to an acta.
To check a seal, open the acta in the Competition Manager or in your federation’s Actas archive. There is no public verification page.
Ampliaciones: changes after closing
Section titled “Ampliaciones: changes after closing”A closed acta is never edited: a correction or an addition is a signed ampliación, printed after the original sheet.
- The organizer or the named 1st referee can Record an ampliación on a sealed acta: Correct the result or Add a remark (text required).
- Each ampliación is signed, chained to the acta’s fingerprint, and printed as extra pages, AMPLIACIÓN Nº n.
- A sealed acta cannot be reopened. An acta that was played but not yet sealed can be sent back to signing by the organizer.
When the connection drops
Section titled “When the connection drops”The scoresheet keeps working without a network:
- Every rally is saved on the phone. The banner says No connection — points are kept on this phone and sent as soon as it is back, and a chip counts what is still to send.
- Leaving the scoreboard is safe: The score is saved and you can continue later from where you left. On return the app asks Continue this match? — Continue, or Start again (asked twice before anything is deleted).
- Before closing, everything must have reached the server: Some sanctions or time-outs have not reached the server yet. Connect and try again before closing the match.
- Under a PRO rulebook the phone needs to open the acta online once before the match starts.
- Two devices on one match: the second one sees Another device is scoring this match and can Score here (take over) or leave it to the other device. The longer rally record wins.
- The Competition Manager’s own point counter keeps a copy in the browser too, so a reload does not lose the score.