en’s and women’s volleyball, which has been disappointed by the decline in international competitiveness, welcomes the opening of the professional volleyball V-League amidst a crisis.
The 2023-24 V-League begins with a match between Korean Air and Hyundai Capital at Gyeyang Gymnasium in Incheon at 2pm on the 14th, and between Korea Expressway Corporation and Heungkuk Life Insurance at Gimcheon Indoor Stadium at 4pm on the 14th.
In particular, men's and women's volleyball entered its 20th season in a somewhat heavy atmosphere due to the failure to win a medal at the recently concluded 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games.
The recent decline in the international competitiveness of men's and women's volleyball is causing a great sense of crisis. Not only on the world stage, but also in Asia, the country is currently unable to show its strength behind the countries of Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
The men's volleyball team ranked third in the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Challenge Cup last July. He set a goal of joining the 2024 FIVB Volleyball Nations League (VNL) by winning the Challenger Cup, but was unable to achieve his goal.
At the Asian Championships held in August, he ranked 5th. At the Hangzhou Asian Games, where they were aiming for a gold medal, they lost face by being eliminated early on before the official opening day.
The men's volleyball team lost to India in a close full set in the first match of the group stage held as a pre-match before the opening of the tournament, and then suffered a shocking shutout loss to Pakistan in the round of 12. As a result, men's volleyball suffered the humiliation of no medals for the first time in 61 years.
The women's volleyball team suffered the humiliation of losing all of their games (24 consecutive losses) in the VNL for two consecutive years last year and this year. They attempted to regain their honor at the Asian Games, but suffered a shock loss to Vietnam in the group stage and lost to China in the quarterfinals, resulting in no medal at the Asian Games for the first time in 17 years since the 2006 Doha Games.
The popularity of men's volleyball, which has not been able to advance to the finals since the 2000 Sydney Olympics, is not what it used to be, and women's volleyball, which rose in popularity after reaching the semifinals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, is also engulfed in a sense of crisis.
However, poor performance in international competitions is unlikely to lead to an immediate decline in the popularity of the V-League.
Just looking at professional baseball, there were concerns about a decline in popularity following the no-medal disaster at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and elimination in the first round of the World Baseball Classic (WBC) held ahead of this season. However, this season, it surpassed 7 million viewers for the first time in four years, showing off its continued popularity.
In the case of women's volleyball, the presence of 'volleyball queen' Kim Yeon-kyung (Heungkuk Life Insurance) is expected to be a great help in maintaining popularity.
In addition, the recent poor performance in international competitions is expected to arouse nostalgia for Kim Yeon-kyung, Kim Su-ji (Heungkuk Life Insurance), Yang Hyo-jin (Hyundai Engineering & Construction), and Kim Hee-jin (IBK Industrial Bank of Korea), who played key roles in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics semifinalist story, thereby turning fans away. am.
The real problem is not this season, but after. When the mythical members of the Tokyo Olympics' semifinals are alive and well and volleyball's popularity remains, it is a golden opportunity to raise awareness and achieve a leap forward.
If the entire volleyball world, including the Volleyball Association, does not make any efforts and takes advantage of popularity and becomes complacent, Korean volleyball will never be able to escape the status of a 'frog in a well'. We must keep in mind that when star players retire and even fans turn away, it will be too late to try to regain popularity.