The Valencian Pilota Federation (in

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

: ''Federació de Pilota Valenciana'') is the

Valencian Valencian () or Valencian language () is the official, historical and traditional name used in the Valencian Community (Spain), and unofficially in the Carche, El Carche comarca in Región de Murcia, Murcia (Spain), to refer to the Romance lan ...

public organization that promotes and manages the many varieties and competitions of the

Valencian pilota Valencian pilota ( ca-valencia, pilota valenciana "Valencian ball") is a traditional handball sport played in the Valencian Community. Its origins are not known. Rules variations within the generic ''Pilota Valenciana'' category are frequent fr ...

sport. Its current president is Ramón Sedeño Clemente. There are 2,003 licensed players and 28 teachers for the 756 students at the ''pilota'' colleges. There are 77 professional players (''pilotaris'') and 15 '' marxadors'' at the trinquets. The "''Federació de Pilota Valenciana''" was founded on 1984, until then it was part of the "''Confederación Española de Pelota''", which was devoted to

Basque pelota Basque pelota (Basque: '' pilota'', Spanish: '' pelota vasca'', French: '' pelote basque'') is the name for a variety of court sports played with a ball using one's hand, a racket, a wooden bat or a basket, against a wall (''frontis or fronton ...

, a different handball. Its worry about the

was shown when the presidents of the Valencian federation were chosen at

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

and they were unaware of this sport or whose only merit was being retired players of the Basque variety. This was the situation until a retired professional Valencian ''pilotari'', Enrique Menéndez, got to be president but soon gave up protesting for the "ignorance" the local handball was suffering, according to him. His resignation, so, forced the raise of an independent Valencian pilota federation. The FPV has named June 14 as "Pilota day", recalling the date playing ''pilota'' was forbidden at the streets of

València Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area also ...

in 1391.

Official competitions

Professionals *

Escala i corda Escala i corda (, "stairs and rope") is the most prestigious variant of Valencian pilota, and the only one apart from raspall to have professional players. History The "Escala i corda" variant began around 1910, when the player Nel de Murla s ...

Trofeu Individual Bancaixa The Trofeu Individual Bancaixa () "Bancaixa one-on-one trophy") is the Escala i corda singles league played by Valencian pilota professionals and promoted by the Bancaixa bank. Statistics {{clear Relevant facts about the ''Trofeu Individual ...

Circuit Bancaixa The Circuit Bancaixa (; "Bancaixa League"), officially Liga Profesional Escala i Corda, is the professional league of Valencian pilota. Circuit Bancaixa name is taken from its main sponsor, the Valencian Savings bank CaixaBank. During the period ...

Raspall Raspall ({{IPA-va, rasˈpaʎ, "scraping") is a variant of the handball game, Valencian pilota, played mainly in the Valencian regions south to the Xúquer river: the Vall d'Albaida, the Safor, the Costera, the Marina Alta and the Marina Baixa. ...

Raspall singles championship The ''Campionat Individual de Raspall'' (Valencian for ''Raspall Singles Championship'') is the Valencian pilota Raspall modality singles league played by professional pilotaris. Statistics {{clear Campionat Individual de Raspall relevant fa ...

Raspall team championship The ''Campionat per Equips de Raspall'' (Valencian for ''Team Raspall Championship'') is the Valencian pilota Raspall modality league played by professional pilotaris. Statistics References See also * Valencian pilota * Raspall Raspall ({ ...

International relationships

Since 1992, the FPV is a member of the

International Ball game Confederation The International Ball game Confederation (also known as CIJB, in French ''Confederation Internationale du Jeu de Balle''), founded on May 13, 1928, is the organization that manages the common activities of the many ball games deriving from Jeu de p ...

, which organizes every year the

Handball International Championships The Handball International Championships are yearly held competitions where many countries and regions play the handball sports derived from the Jeu de paume. It is organized by the International Ball game Confederation, and there are three offic ...

External links

* {{in lang, ca, es 1984 establishments in Spain Valencian pilota