We were founded in 1985 as a sports club for gay men – with volleyball as our first sport. The intention was to enable gay sports enthusiasts to practise sports in an environment free of prejudice and discrimination in Frankfurt am Main.
The minutes of the inaugural meeting read as follows: “On the basis of a personal invitation, eight persons appeared today, Sunday, 13 October 1985 at 9 p.m. in Restaurant Traube, Rosenberger Straße 4, in order to decide on the founding of an association for sporting activities with special emphasis on the game of volleyball. The statutes were unanimously adopted by all present in an open vote. The chairman of the meeting then declared that the “Frankfurter Volleyball Verein is founded …”.
The deliberately neutral choice of name came from the need of many members at the time to be perceived as a completely “normal” sports club. As a founding member of the EGLSF, the club was an important part of the European gay and lesbian sports movement from an early stage, working to reduce discrimination against homosexual athletes in Europe. The European commitment of the FVV became particularly clear when it decided to organise the EuroGames 1995 in Frankfurt – the first games of this size in Europe.
The club is not only active in recreational sports, but also takes part in competitions, championships and tournaments in the regular leagues of the different sports associations. It also participates in larger competitions with other LGBT* sports clubs, e.g. the Gay Games and EuroGames. It has the first male synchronised swimming group in Europe – the only one of its kind in Germany.
For many years we have also supported Eastern European LGBT* sports clubs, which are often victims of discrimination as a result of the harsh political climate in these countries.
FVV organises the annual XMAS Tournament, in which about 1,000 athletes from different European countries participate every year. In addition to the XMAS tournament, FVV organises a variety of other recreational events.