The Premier Volleyball League (PVL) is the top-level professional women's volleyball league in the Philippines organized by the Sports Vision Management Group, Inc. The PVL was established in 2004 as the inter-collegiate Shakey's V-League (SVL) until it rebranded to the current entity in 2017. Prior to becoming a full-fledged professional league in 2021, the PVL was open to participation of corporate owned semi-professional clubs and non-collegiate teams backed by local governments.
The Spikers' Turf is the men's counterpart of the PVL.
The Premier Volleyball League was established in 2004 as the Shakey's V-League. The league was founded by Sports Vision Management Group, Inc., a group led by former Philippine Basketball Association commissioner Jun Bernardino, Ricky Palou, Moying Martelino and Rhea Navarro, with Shakey's Pizza serving as the title sponsor throughout the lifetime of the SVL.[3] Initially an inter-collegiate women's league, it expanded to include corporate teams beginning in 2011.[4]
2017–2020: Premier Volleyball League, professional status and hiatus
The Shakey's V-League changed its name to the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) starting the 2017 season.[5] The Spikers' Turf, which was spun-off from the league in 2015, was merged back to the PVL and was rebranded as the PVL's men's division.[5] The renaming was part of a bid to secure more sponsorship for the league.[6] There was a plan to rename the league to the Philippine Volleyball League instead[7][8] but this was abandoned due to another entity already owning the name.[5] The order of its conference was also changed with the league beginning with the import-laden Reinforced Conference and the Open Conference being held close to the start of the UAAP and NCAA tournaments which is usually held near the year's end. Prior to this, the Open Conference was traditionally held earlier.[9]
The PVL men's division ended with the 2018 PVL Collegiate Conference as its final tournament. The men's division reverted to the Spikers' Turf. The first tournament since the revert was the Open Conference in October 2018.[10]
The 2020 season was indefinitely postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic[11] and there were plans to start the season with the Open Conference instead of the Reinforced Conference in September 2020 due to logistics issue of flying in imports for the latter.[12]
In October 2020, the Philippines' Games and Amusements Board (GAB) issued a directive that players compensated for non-national team play would be considered as professionals, as well as all sporting events organized for profit. This has raised concerns regarding the status of leagues such as the PVL and its rival league, the Philippine Super Liga (PSL).[13] The PVL in particular was concerned over the financial aspects of operating as a professional league.[14]
In November 2020, the PVL announced that the league would turn professional starting with the 2021 season,[14] believing it has enough women players to make the move. The league was already considering move for some time due to the collegiate league UAAP deciding to bar its rookies from playing in commercial leagues starting its UAAP Season 81 (2018-19) in anticipation that all college players would not be allowed to play in the PVL eventually.[15] Prior to the league's professionalization, the PVL was considered as semi-professional and thus, its affairs were not supervised or regulated by the GAB.[16] Six PVL teams—BaliPure, Banko Perlas, Choco Mucho, Creamline, Motolite, and Petro Gazz—agreed to the move of the PVL turning professional.[15]
A new separate league called the V-League, was formed to accommodate collegiate and amateur teams which could no longer participate in the PVL due to the league's professionalization.[17] Prior to its professionalization, the PVL hosted a collegiate conference.[18]
2021–2024: Return of the league and further expansion
Prior to the start of the 2021 season, five PSL teams—Chery Tiggo, Cignal HD, F2 Logistics, PLDT, and Sta. Lucia—joined the PVL, which rendered the PVL a "unified" professional league, leaving the PSL with only three inactive member teams.[19][20]
The PVL returned in 2021 with the 2021 Open Conference, which was staged in a bubble set-up. The recurrence of an entire season began the following year. In October 2022, PVL announced the use of video challenge system for the first time in the return of the Reinforced Conference after three years.[21]
The 2023 season saw the rebranding of the Open Conference as the All-Filipino Conference to better reflect that only Filipino players could compete in said conference.[22] After the All-Filipino Conference, the league saw the addition of two new teams in Farm Fresh Foxies and Quezon City Gerflor Defenders, and the reappearance of Foton Tornadoes in the Filipino volleyball scene.[23][24] The three teams pledged to participate in the league for at least the next three years.[25] With the inclusion of three new teams comes with the skipping of Philippine Army Lady Troopers from joining the league due to military training to most of its players.[26] Foton withdrew shortly after their participation in Invitational Conference because some of its players didn't get a contract renewal and they returned to the franchise's main team, the Chery Tiggo.[27] F2 Logistics and Gerflor Defenders were disbanded after the 2023 season.[28][29]
Unlike other foreign professional volleyball leagues that have a single regular season spanning from October to May, the Premier Volleyball League seasons are divided into two to three "conferences" or tournaments, emulating the Philippine Basketball Association, and the now-defunct rival Philippine Super Liga with each tournament winner being counted as overall league champions.
From 2017 to 2019, the PVL paraded three tournaments — the Reinforced Conference, Open Conference, and Collegiate Conference. Upon the PVL's professionalization in 2021, the Collegiate Conference was transferred to the revived V-League the following year while retaining the three-tournament season format, with the Invitational Conference replacing the defunct Collegiate. The Open Conference was later renamed the All-Filipino Conference in the 2023 season to reflect its limitation to only Filipino professional players.
During the 2023 season, the originally-planned Reinforced Conference was canceled due to the sanctions imposed by the Philippine National Volleyball Federation for violating Article 6.1.1.b of the FIVB Regulations of 2022, stating that professional leagues should prioritize the national team period.[35] With this sanction, the club teams were temporarily barred from getting foreign players for the tournament as the federation was forbidden from issuing international transfer certificates. A second All-Filipino conference was held instead.
Active tournaments
All-Filipino Conference (formerly Open Conference) is the conference where only professional players with Filipino citizenship can compete. It was originally catered to a hybrid of corporate-backed amateurs and collegiate squads when the league had not yet garnered its professional status. (8 tournaments as of 2024–25 season)
Reinforced Conference is an import-laden conference where teams can hire foreign reinforcement(s). (5 tournaments as of 2024–25 season)
Invitational Conference is a conference where international club teams are invited to play in a short tournament against the local teams. (3 tournaments as of 2024–25 season)
Defunct tournaments
Collegiate Conference (2017–2019) was a pre-season tournament for college and university teams in preparation for the respective regular seasons of their mother leagues.
During its semi-professional era from 2017 to 2019, the league is open to players, whether they are simultaneously playing in their respective school leagues or not. One notable team is the 2018 Reinforced lineup of the Balipure-NU Water Defenders, where the core of the squad is composed of high school athletes from the NU Nazareth School. Local-based (LGU) teams were also welcomed to participate in the league.
Since 2021, players from UAAP member schools will need to forego their remaining eligible playing years to compete in the league as the UAAP now prohibits their student-athletes from participating in commercial sporting leagues.[36] Athletes from the NCAA were still able to play by obtaining a special guest license (SGL) granted by the Games and Amusements Board (GAB) and honored by their collegiate league. This license allows them to play in a professional league without skipping their remaining collegiate playing years.[37]
The 2024 season saw the commencement of the league's inaugural rookie draft, where players coming from colleges and universities who have not previously competed professionally can apply and be hired by club teams. With the launch of the rookie draft, teams are now barred from directly hiring players from the collegiate ranks, such as the NCAA, and the UAAP.[38] Teams cannot also direct hire Filipino players that have not played in the league since its professionalization in 2021. Furthermore, it limits which players can apply and enter the league. They should be at least 21 years old by December 31 of the year of the annual draft, with no necessity for collegiate playing experience or academic qualifications, and Filipino-foreign players must secure a Philippine passport or a birth certificate issued in the Philippines before the deadline for submission of draft eligibility requirements.[39]
Game rules
The PVL follows the rules and guidelines set by the FIVB, including unique mechanics created by the league or adopted from other tournaments.
During the 2021 season, teams did not switch courts due to the health protocols implemented at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. This rule was kept until the 2022 season when the league reinstated the policy for teams to switch sides every set except during the 5th set (if such match goes such length).
Along with introducing the new court-switching rule, that conference also saw new timeout regulations, where only one technical timeout lasting from one to two minutes will come into effect when the leading team reaches 13 points, and teams have one regular timeout and another 30-second timeout for each set.[40] At the start of the 2024 PVL season, the league fully reinstated its original time-out rules, where each set had two 60-second technical time-outs that is utilized when the leading team reaches 8 and 16 points. Meanwhile, each team had two 30-second time-outs. This season also introduced "green cards" that are given to a team or player that admits a committed fault to the referee as a promotion of fair play, streamlining the adjudication process and minimizing the need for unnecessary video challenges.[41]
The 2022 Premier Volleyball League Reinforced Conference saw the first implementation of the video challenge system widely used in international and club volleyball tournaments.[42] It introduced six challenges for the team to use – Ball In/Out, Block Touch, Net Fault, Antenna Touch, Foot Fault, and Floor Touch. The 2024–25 Premier Volleyball League All-Filipino Conference saw the addition of two new challenges – Last Touch and Reaching Beyond the Net.
Game rule differences between PVL and FIVB tournaments
The teams change courts after each set, except the 5th set (if necessary). During the 5th set, once the leading team reaches 8 points, the teams change courts without delay and the player positions remain the same.
Teams will only change courts after the second set. In the 5th set (if necessary), once the leading team reaches 8 points, the teams change courts without delay and the player positions remain the same.
Yes (two per set - when the leading team reaches 8 and 16 points)
Note
a.^ Starting on the 2024 Nations League and the 2024 Summer Olympics, the hawk-eye system powered by Bolt6 Technology is now used in major FIVB tournaments to make the automated ball in/out calls. It reduces the number of challenge requests and processing, and eliminates the need for line judges/referees and the Ball In/Out challenge.[43]
2021: The PNVF has invited the Premier Volleyball League to send its best finishing team in the 2021 Open Conference along with the national team which competed as Team Rebisco but all teams declined to enter.[44][45] The PNVF fielded a second team composing of other players in the national team pool instead.[46] The second team was named Team Choco Mucho.[47]
2022: The best performing local team at the 2022 Invitational Conference was slated to form the core of the Philippine national team for the Asian Women's Volleyball Cup.[48] The Creamline Cool Smashers emerged as champions.[49] Creamline as the national team placed sixth.[50]
The Premier Volleyball League (as well as its predecessor) does not use a "home-and-away" format since most teams are managed by corporations. Games are presently held at the Filoil EcoOil Centre in San Juan, PhilSports Arena in Pasig, Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, and SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay. Aside from the regular venues, the PVL are holding games outside of Metro Manila, known as the "PVL on Tour" since its first season.
During the 2021 season, the league held its first season as a professional league at PCV Socio-Civic & Cultural Center in Bacarra, Ilocos Norte. This was held in an isolation zone (bubble) setup due to the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. And in the 2022 Open, the preliminary round games were held in Paco Arena in Manila in the same bubble format as the last conference. Starting from the playoffs of the said conference, the league officially started reaccepting live audiences to watch the games.
Continuing from PVL's predecessor, Shakey's V-League, the league's broadcast coverage partner was ABS-CBN Sports and Action. This partnership continued until 2020. In the aftermath of the ABS-CBN legislative franchise renewal controversy, the PVL moved to sign a partnership agreement with Cignal TV, as their primary broadcasting partner from the 2021 season onwards with former ABS-CBN Sports personnel continuing at the helm that can be watched through One Sports and One Sports+. During the 2024 season, PVL games can also be watched through the new free-to-air channel – RPTV.
With the rise of online streaming services, the live coverage of the games can be viewed via Cignal Play, Smart LiveStream, Pilipinas Live app, and the league's official website.
legend: 1C – 1st conference, 2C – 2nd conference, F – All-Filipino conference, I – invitational conference, O – open conference, C – collegiate conference, R – reinforced conference
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