Soccer is the most popular sport in the world and while volleyball may not be as popular, most people seem to be familiar with it. Even though both sports are different from each other, they also share certain similarities. This is not unique to soccer and volleyball since there are other sports, too that share similarities as well as differences though the degree of similarities and differences may vary.

One of the similarities between soccer and volleyball is that they are both team sports. In other words, one has to work closely with team members to compete with the other team. This is in contrast to individual sports such as boxing, tennis, and ping pong where the player has to rely on his/her own skills only. Another similarity between soccer and volleyball is that they both can be played indoor and outdoor. The playfields for both soccer and volleyball are rectangular in shape. Even though the common objective of teams in both soccer and volleyball may be different, they do share some tasks such as passing the ball to their teammates. Soccer and volleyball are also similar in the sense that both sports involve a ball as the only equipment. In other sports, there may be multiple equipments. For example, baseball has ball, bat, and gloves among other things. While there are numerous similarities, the differences between two sports are greater in number as the next section demonstrates.

One of the differences between soccer and volleyball is the number of players in each team. In soccer, there are eleven players in each team while there are only six players in each team in volleyball. This is also due to the fact that volleyball is played on a smaller field than soccer. Another difference between soccer and volleyball is that soccer players cannot touch the ball by hand with the exception of goalkeepers while volleyball players rely on their hands to play the game. The ball in soccer can touch the ground but in volleyball, both teams try to prevent the ball from touching the ground within their zone as it results in other team scoring the point. The objective in soccer is to put the ball in the goal post of the other team while the objective in volleyball is to make the ball hit the ground on the other side of the net. While the game balls in both soccer and volleyball look quite similar, soccer ball is heavier. In soccer, players from two opposite teams do come in physical contact with each other but this doesn’t usually happen in volleyball where two teams are on the opposite side of the net. Soccer and volleyball also differ in the level of stamina required from players. Soccer players often run a long distance during the game. On the other hand, volleyball players may not run long distance but they have to move around often. While any sport requires one to do lot of practice to become good at it, basic skills in soccer are easier to acquire as compared to volleyball. This is because soccer is basically about kicking the ball which comes naturally to us. On the other hand, playing volleyball requires one to at least properly handle the incoming ball.

While volleyball is quite popular around the world, it cannot compete with soccer which is the most popular sport in the world. Both sports share certain similarities though the differences are greater in number. Some of the similarities between soccer and volleyball are that both are team sports, require team players to pass around the ball to make a play, and both can be player either indoor or outdoor. Some of the differences between soccer and volleyball are the number of players in each team, size of the playfield, the main objective of the teams, i.e. putting ball in a goal past vs. putting ball on the floor in the opposite zone, and basic skills required to play the sport which in this case are simpler in soccer as compared to volleyball.