What happened at the Yeosu KOVO Cup?
Last year I heard about the KOVO Cup coming to Yeosu, So I made plans and convinced some friends to join me on the trip. Mainly we wanted to see the Thai team because you know? How often do you get to see a Thai team play in Korea? Ok, the soccer team Buriram United during the AFC Cup. But, for volleyball? Seemed like you‘d see it once in a blue moon or the Korean equivalent “like beans sprouting during a drought”. (Pause for two second) My editor says that doesn’t make sense. Look OK, it makes more sense in the original Klingon *joke sting*.
But a day before we were to head to Yeosu, news broke all over the place *glass breaking* gawd damn it not on my rug! I just cleaned it *joke sting*. Unnng anyway, The FIVA ruled the foreign players couldn’t play in the KOVO cup last year and I wanted to know why. This is a Hwa-Time sports deep dive *sploosh sound* gawd damn it not on the rug! Why is it always on my rug?! *Joke sting*
The background
Let’s start with a little bit of background. Yeosu city won the bid from the Korea Volleyball Federation to host the KOVO Cup, a preseason tournament that the league uses to get fans in cities that don’t have a team. According to a post in the Yeosu Netongs, this decision was made on July 25th. I want you to remember that date because it’s important. Anyway, they signed the papers in Yeosu City Hall. The mayor was there and hell even the mascot *joke sting*. Mayor Jeong Gi-myeong said quote “The visit of top-tier domestic volleyball teams to Yeosu will be a great boost to our city ahead of the 2026 Yeosu World Island Expo,” adding, “We will make thorough preparations to ensure that the tournament is safe and enjoyable for both citizens and visitors.” unquote. So Yeosu put a lot of money and effort into getting the arena and sports complex and the necessary facilities ready for the teams. Naturally they were expecting a bit of profit from the ticket sales and the visitors’ spending. Why wouldn’t they? It was a big event with a successful track record. And so, KOVO also invited foreign teams like Thailand’s Nakhon Ratchasima’s men’s team and Vietnam’s Deungjiang women’s team. Everything was going smooth and tickets were sold to fans. Then came the start of the men’s tournament on September 13th and that’s when disaster struck, even though the first game had already begun.
The decision
After the first game finished up, the second game never got started. The whole tournament came to a crashing halt! Now, did you remember that date of July 25th I told you about? Yeah, that’s when KOVO decided to hold the cup in Yeosu. But that left about 2 months to smooth out the wrinkles, including the most important wrinkle which the league officials either COMPLETELY missed or tried to bully their way past. And now we get to the heart of the problem, about 5 minutes into the podcast. Hey what can I say? I don’t stretch it out as much as Business Wars *joke sting*
So guess what else was going on at the same time? Yes, that’s right, the 2025 FIVB Men's Volleyball World Championship in the Philippines. The FIVB have strict rules regarding when international tournaments and season opening can occur to protect the players who play in the FIVB championship. And wow did KOVO completely forget about this. Based on what I’ve read, the FIVB called up KOVO and told them the tournament is against the rules, but negotiations were ongoing so they allowed the first game with Hyundai Capital Skyhawks to go through. However the second game with Samsung Fire was postponed and the league was telling the media that the whole men’s tournament would get scrapped. Later, in reports covered by the Chosun Daily, negotiations between the league and FIVB were finalized around 4AM, which sounds like the FIVB heads were tired and said “fine, fine just do it and stop calling me!” *joke sting*. But there were some tough stipulations. The FIVB wouldn’t grant international transfer certificates (ITC) which meant that foreign club teams or foreign players couldn’t participate, as well as players registered for the World Championship were excluded. This meant the Thai team got sent home without even a chance to suit up. But this led to another problem, specifically with the team that I talked about earlier. See, the Skyhawks had players on the national team in the Philippines as well as injured players so they were already short-staffed. And on the 15th, the team withdrew from the tournament resulting in forfeits of their remaining matches. They also didn’t tell the other teams about the foreign players and reserve players being banned until they specifically asked about them. So let’s make a mental note that the men’s tournament is without two teams, including last season’s champion, and you can’t call up other teams to fill in because there are none, as we talk about the cup.
The KOVO cup later
Despite there being no Skywalkers and no foreign players for any teams, the Cup went ahead on the 14th. But there was another problem; due to the first day being effectively canceled and two teams out, the league decided to refund all of the men’s tickets, making the rest of the men’s event free for all. Would’ve been nice if most of the games were on the weekend, but ce la vie. Anyway, the lack of gate proceeds and many fans skipping annoyed Yeosu city hall, no doubt.
The men’s tournament went on and Korean Air won the Cup with OK Savings Bank the runner-up. The Women’s tournament went ahead but with schedule changes due to the Vietnamese team’s removal. Also no foreign players were allowed since two foreign players were in the reserves for their national teams, But at least the teams had their national team players available since the Korean team didn’t get into the championship. This is where losing pays off, class! *joke sting* Another important change is that they made the women’s games free for Yeosu residents. I wouldn’t have agreed to that if I were Yeosu city hall but it did guarantee more butts in the seats. When we went to the matches on Saturday the 21st, there were quite a few fans of all ages. It might have been because women’s volleyball has a measure of popularity and there were a few retiring players in the mix so for some area fans this would be a last chance to see them play. Anyway, IBK won the cup and the Gimcheon expressway corp was the runner up. So by the skin of their teeth, KOVO completed the tournament, though they also had to move the start of their season to comply with FIVB regulations. And speaking of skin, some would be lost soon after.
Aftermath
In the united states, even untouchable league commissioners like Adam Silver would get fired or replaced over this level of incompetence. On October 27, KOVO held a personnel committee meeting, and those involved in the debacle received pay cuts and reprimands. The Secretary General received a three-month pay cut. Also, the league formed an international cooperation team within their game management team to better coordinate with FIVB to prevent situations like this from happening again. Which to be honest, they should have LONG ago put in place, ESPECIALLY since the 2025 world championships were decided TWO FRIGGEN YEARS AGO! How can the league say they didn’t know it would be against the rules to start the season during the world championships? Did other national leagues do the same and thought they’d get a pass like those leagues did? There are more questions than answers at this point, but I must say from my basic research thus far, it wouldn’t paint KOVO in a better light. International teams and fans certainly look at KOVO in a negative way and Thai fans made a grumbling youtube video about the mess.
But on the bright side, at least Yeosu got the cup again this fall. Jecheon won the bid for the next two years according to reports in the Chosun Biz. The next world championship is in 2027 in Poland so KOVO should have the dates blocked off on their calendars under the term NO GAMES HERE to prevent this from happening again. Who wants to bet there’ll be another epic fail? *joke sting*.
Korea’s run in the Asia Cup
Meanwhile in Australia the women’s asian cup continued on. South Korea got into the semifinals with a win over first timer Uzbekistan, then lost in the semis to Japan. But because they got to the semis, South Korea gets automatically entered into the women’s world cup next year. North Korea will be joining them thanks to a win over Chinese Taipei in the playoffs. And speaking of the women’s footie team, they are in the naughty house this week. Let’s get into the Worst Persons in the Korean sports world.
Worst Persons
The winner of the Nap award goes to…the North Korean Women’s football team! During their match against Australia, midfielder Myong Yu-jeong made a dangerous contest and bashed an Australian player in the eye, drawing blood. Instead of showing concern for the wounded player, Yu-jeong threw a fit when she got a yellow card. Are you sure you don’t wanna play American football, Ms Myong? You can draw all the blood there you want *joke sting*. According to reports in Naver news, this wasn’t the team only showing of poor sportsmanship because during the group match against China, the coach didn’t like a VAR decision, got warned by the ref and the team went to the bench and refused to play for a while. Eventually they returned to play and later the North Korean representatives stated that they intend to comply fully with the rules and spirit of the competition going forward. Well, they’re in the world cup so we’ll see what happens next.
The Radon Award goes to…Jeju SK fans online! Recently, Jeju SK player Italo Moreira Barcelos received hate mail and racist remarks after he was removed from Jeju’s first game due to stepping on the ankle of a Gwangju player. The abusive comments appeared not only on his social media account but also on posts linked to the club and his girlfriend according to reports in the Korea Herald. The incident prompted a strong response from the club and its supporters. The club warned it could take strong action, including legal measures, saying player protection was its top priority. However, the club has yet to take further steps after the player and his girlfriend reportedly said they did not want to pursue legal action. But I will give respect to the in-person Jeju SK fans for chanting Italo’s name and holding placards like Say No to Racism at the following game, to make it clear it ain’t all the fanbase. Because they don’t want to wind up like Italy, with games getting forfeited because the fans keep throwing bananas at black players.
And now The Plutonium Award goes to…. The Bucheon FC fans! Man this is the day of bad soccer fans lemme tell ya! After the game with Ulsan on March 15th, some Bucheon fans cursed at and threw bottle caps at Ulsan players on the sidelines as they were doing their post game exercises. The fans apparently took this as an insult since the home team lost. The players association released a statement condemning the actions of these fans and warning them that throwing things at players is a crime. See, this is why I can’t bring Jameson to the game, even though watching Bucheon play makes me wanna get blitzed. *joke sting* And this isn’t Bucheon’s first rodeo in the naughty box! According to reports in the MK sports Bucheon was previously disciplined for throwing foreign objects. After the match against Chungcheongbuk-do Cheongju at Bucheon Stadium on October 5, 2024, Bucheon supporters threw foreign substances and swear words to Cheongju goalkeeper Lee Han-sam. A worker from Cheongju, who was restraining the situation at the time, was also hit by foreign objects. After that incident, Bucheon was fined 5 million won and punished for two games without cheering seats for the home game. So yeah, do they wanna go back to the penalty box or what? If y’all can’t handle being in the big league, you can take yo asses back to K2 or K3! Bucheon FC fans, today’s worst persons in the sports world!
GOTW
We’ve got a Korea cup rematch with Daejeon hosting Jeonbuk Hyundai at 2pm this Saturday. Jeonbuk started sloppy but is back in the thick of things. Will beating Daejeon again bring them back to the spotlight, or will Daejeon get revenge?
On Sunday FC Seoul is hosting Gwangju at 2pm and that’s a good matchup. It could be further proof that Gwangju wants to be competitive this year, and FC Seoul’s in second place so it’s a good way to find out who the team really is.
And finally this Saturday HL Anyang is hosting the Nikko Ice Bucks in game 2 of the semifinals at 4PM. Anyang won a 3 overtime thriller on Thursday night thanks to a botched pass in the Ice Bucks zone and thriller breakaway goal! I betcha there will be even more exciting hockey tomorrow afternoon.
And of course there is handball in Gijang Busan saturday and sunday. It’s a moving league so catch it while you can!
Ending
Thank you for tuning in today. We hope you learned something about Korean Sports because if you didn’t, you set the sleep timer too soon *joke sting*. Pass this pod on to anyone interested in Korean sports and especially rookies because trust me they need every ounce of help we can pour on them. If you don’t believe me, spend 5 minutes on Living in Korea subreddit *Joke sting*. If you wish to read along or contact the show, visit our website at hwatingsportspodcast dot com or our Facebook page and everything you need is right there. Give our podcast 5 stars if you have time. Music notes like the opening song thanks to DumiAFava. You can reach him on Instagram @daf_daffy247. Cover art thanks to our cycling expert James! A shoutout to our listeners in Moose Factory Ontario. Wait, that can’t be right, can it? (Pause for two seconds) It is a tiny town on an island that is mostly part of the Cree tribe, and no they don’t have moose coming out of a factory somewhere. Do they have a hockey team? (Pause for two seconds) It’s the hometown of Jonathan Cheechoo of the San Jose Sharks?! I used to watch him play for the Sharks. Is he tuning in to the show? I haven’t covered hockey in awhile. Anyway, next episode is the 27th and we’re ending the season with a special on Little League! Tell the catcher to stop belly flopping on home base! Until next time, Moose listeners.
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Notes
First article about the Yeosu KOVO Cup - Chosun Biz
Cup Resumes and KOVO apologizes - Chosun Biz
Hyundai Capital Withdrawls because of too few players - Chosun Biz
Korean Air Jumbos wins Mens cup - Chosun Biz
Women's tournament without foreign players and teams - Chosun Biz
KOVO officials punished by KOVO over Cup mess
Jecheon to host 27 & 28 KOVO Cup
2025 FIVB Men's Volleyball World Championship - Wikipedia
North Korea player Myong Yu-jeong yellow card- Naver News
Why did Jeju soccer fans hold anti-racism placards before match?
Bucheon FC fans throwing things - Naver Sports