The women’s professional volleyball V-League ended the 2021-2022 season early due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Korean Volleyball Federation (KOVO) and the heads of seven women’s teams held a non-face-to-face emergency response meeting on the 21st and made this decision.
The federation said, “We apologize to the fans who have been waiting for the match.
As a result, the 6th round match between Heungkuk Life Insurance and GS Caltex at Samsan World Gymnasium in Incheon was the last match of the season.
In this match, GS Caltex defeated Heungkuk Life 3-0.
This is the second time that the V-League, which was launched in 2005, did not finish the regular season following the 2019-2020 season.
At that time, the season ended early for both men and women, but this time, the men’s season will proceed normally.
The women’s team had to stop the league twice this season due to COVID-19.
On February 11, Hyundai E&C and Korea Expressway Corporation suspended the league due to a number of confirmed cases, but resumed on the 21st of the same month.
Corona 19 hit the women’s department once more, which was close.
On the 6th, the season was suspended once more due to the group infection of two clubs, Hyundai E&C and GS Caltex.
The federation originally planned to resume the league on the 16th, but the Pepper Savings Bank also delayed the reopening date to the 20th when a confirmed case of Corona 19 came out.
The league was suspended for the second time following February 11-20, and the cumulative number of days of suspension for the women’s division this season has been 26 days.
According to the COVID-19 response manual created by the federation and 14 professional clubs, if the league is suspended for 24 to 28 days, the season ends only in the 6th round regular league and there is no postseason.
However, the federation and seven women’s clubs held an emergency meeting on the 11th and decided to proceed with the postseason.
He gave the reason to maintain the rising popularity of the women’s club, provide fan service, and show his best to the fans until the very end, but he was severely criticized for violating the principles he had set for himself.
The league resumed following twists and turns, but the crisis came once more.
IBK Industrial Bank of Korea and Pepper Savings Bank had additional confirmed cases of Corona 19, and both clubs were unable to fill the 12-man entry.
According to the COVID-19 response manual, if two or more teams fail to fill the 12-man entry, the league will be suspended for 10 days.
The cumulative suspension days for the women’s division, which were previously suspended for 26 days, have been increased to 36 days, and if the suspension date exceeds 28 days in the manual, the V-League will end prematurely.
The federation and the seven women’s clubs eventually concluded that the season was over early according to the manual that the league should be ended early if the suspension period exceeds 28 days.
The federation said, “Through the meeting, we discussed in-depth with various plans such as early termination of the league and reduction of the league. We have concluded that the season cannot proceed any further due to reasons such as lack of training time.”
Due to the early termination of the women’s division, there is no winning team this season.
The final ranking of the regular league reflects the rankings up to round 5, the round just before the time of suspension, and takes 1st place Hyundai E&C, 2nd Korea Expressway Corporation, 3rd place GS Caltex, 4th KGC Ginseng Corporation, 5th IBK Industrial Bank of Korea, 6th Heungkuk Life Insurance. , finished 7th with Pepper Savings Bank.
Hyundai E&C, which took the lead this season with an overwhelming record of 28 wins and 3 losses (82 points), is satisfied with the ‘regular league first place’, not the ‘champion’ as it was two years ago.
Hyundai E&C was also ranked first in the 2019-2020 season, but might not hold the championship game as the season ended early in the early 6th round in the followingmath of Corona 19.
(Photo = provided by Korea Volleyball Federation (KOVO), Yonhap News)
