Lee Jae-young returns to the court and plays in Japan. Reflection on the past → Volleyball is irreplaceable...Four years after leaving the court for controversy over school violence → One year after hinting at retirement

Jul 22, 2025

Lee Jae-young returns to the court and plays in Japan. Reflection on the past → Volleyball is irreplaceable...Four years after leaving the court for controversy over school violence → One year after hinting at retirement
Photo =Victorina Himeji SNS



Lee Jae-young returns to the court and plays in Japan. Reflection on the past → Volleyball is irreplaceable...Four years after leaving the court for controversy over school violence → One year after hinting at retirement
Sportschosun DB
Former national team Lee Jae-young will return to the court. It is Japan, not Korea.

On the 21st, Japan's SV League club Victorina Himeji announced the recruitment of Lee Jae-young. The club introduced "As an outside heater with high attack power and world-class receiving capabilities, it will greatly contribute to strengthening the team's power."

Regarding Lee Jae-young's long absence, "After close consultation, we decided that our team's current condition would work well."," he added.




The SV League is the first division of Japanese volleyball, which was launched last year, and consists of a total of 14 teams. Victorina Himeji, based in Himeji, near Osaka, ranked sixth with 27 wins and 17 losses (79 points) in the 2024-2025 season, the first season of the SV League.

Lee Jae-young is returning to the court for the first time in four years after being kicked out of the domestic volleyball community in 2021 due to the controversy over his twin brother Lee Da-young.

In an interview with Himeji, Lee Jae-young said, `I'm very happy to play in Japan, which was my dream since I was young.'




Photo =Victorina Himeji SNS
Then "I take what happened in the past seriously and reflect on it. I thought about whether to continue playing volleyball, but to me volleyball was irreplaceable. Thank you to the (Himeji) club for the opportunity to play on the court again"I'll do my best for the team. Please keep an eye on future activities."

After playing in the Greek league, his younger brother Lee Da-young tried to join Pepper Savings Bank, but when it failed, he played in the Romanian and French leagues and now plays for San Diego Mojo in the U.S.

On the other hand, Lee Jae-young joined PAOK Thessaloniki in the Greek League with his younger brother, but returned to Korea without showing any significant performance due to the worsening knee injury and restrictions on foreign players. It is known that due to worsening public opinion after being kicked out, they have not been able to find a place to practice in Korea.




In July last year, he hinted at retirement by posting a message on his fan cafe saying, `Please support my second life.' However, with joining Victory or Himeji, he started his second volleyball life in an unexpected place.

Lee Jae-young returns to the court and plays in Japan. Reflection on the past → Volleyball is irreplaceable...Four years after leaving the court for controversy over school violence → One year after hinting at retirement
Sportschosun DB
Lee Jae-young was once called "Next Kim Yeon-kyung" and played a leading role in Korean women's volleyball. He joined Heungkuk Life Insurance as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2014-2015 season, and since then, he has played as the best star player, winning the regular league MVP twice (2016-2017, 2018-2019). In the 2018-2019 season, he led Heungkuk Life Insurance to the championship and won the MVP of the championship game. With his younger brother Lee Da-young, he has established himself as a superstar by showing off his star quality not only in the regular season but also in the All-Star Game.

However, in the 2021-2022 season, when he was in his prime, Kim Yeon-kyung and repeated troubles surfaced, and the history of school violence was revealed and released from Heungkuk Life. As he failed to join Pepper Savings Bank ahead of the 2022-2023 season, he has been virtually kicked out of the domestic volleyball community.

Lee Jae-young returns to the court and plays in Japan. Reflection on the past → Volleyball is irreplaceable...Four years after leaving the court for controversy over school violence → One year after hinting at retirement
Photo =Himeji Victoria's homepage capture




This article was translated by Naver AI translator.