Pro Volleyball, First-Ever Early End to Regular Season

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] The Korea Volleyball Federation (KOVO) has decided to end the 2019-2020 V-League season early due to the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19). This is the first time since the V-League's launch in 2005 that the regular season has been cut short without completion.

On the 23rd, KOVO held a board meeting at its office in Sangam-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul, with the general managers of the 13 teams present, and decided to end the regular season.

Although KOVO held a board meeting on the 19th as well, no conclusion was reached between ending or resuming the league. At this meeting, KOVO President Cho Won-tae proposed to the team general managers to reach a prompt decision, and after heated debate, the consensus was that resuming the league would be difficult.

The standings for the 2019-2020 season were determined based on the 'end of the 5th round.' Although the V-League usually consists of 6 rounds, this season some teams played as many as 3 games and others as few as 1 game in the 6th round.

The KOVO board judged that the ranking criteria should be based on the 'same number of games played.' The standings at the end of the 5th round matched the records as of March 3, when the league suspension was decided. In the men's division, Woori Card topped the standings with 64 points (23 wins, 7 losses), surpassing Korean Air (62 points, 22 wins, 8 losses). This marked Woori Card's first-ever regular season first-place finish since its founding. In the women's division, Hyundai Engineering & Construction ranked first with 52 points (19 wins, 6 losses) at the 5th round cutoff, pushing GS Caltex (51 points, 17 wins, 8 losses) to second place. Hyundai Engineering & Construction claimed its third regular season first-place finish overall and the first in nine years since the 2011-2012 season.

The KOVO board decided to donate a total of 400 million KRW in prize money for the top three teams in the regular season (Men's 1st place 120 million KRW, 2nd place 70 million KRW, 3rd place 30 million KRW; Women's 1st place 100 million KRW, 2nd place 50 million KRW, 3rd place 30 million KRW) as a contribution to overcoming COVID-19. The donation will also support living expenses for members such as professional committee members, referees, and statisticians.

KOVO stated, "We will proceed smoothly with follow-up measures regarding the early termination of the league and prepare detailed regulations for such unprecedented situations to ensure that everyone can accept the decisions under any circumstances."

At the KOVO board meeting scheduled for early April, discussions are expected to continue regarding preparations for the 2020-2021 season following the early end of the current season.

Remaining issues include administrative matters such as awards and free agent (FA) status. Since FA status can determine the fate of players and teams, new criteria need to be established. According to KOVO's FA regulations, players who have participated in more than 40% of the regular season games each year qualify as free agents. For the men's division, this means playing at least 14 games out of 36, and for the women's division, at least 12 games out of 30.

However, due to the league's suspension near the end of the season, many players have not met these requirements this season.

Plans for awards in each category are also critical. Although the regular season was not completed, how the season's end point is determined could affect awards for offensive and defensive categories throughout the season. KOVO is also expected to revisit the schedule for the foreign player tryouts originally planned to be held in the Czech Republic. Since Europe is currently restricting entry due to COVID-19, a new approach will likely be necessary.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.