What happened to the men's volleyball draft field after Hyundai Capital, the winner of the championship, picked one person in shock

Oct 28, 2025

Photo courtesy=KOVO

"You can't just do weight training."

In the 2025-2026 KOVO men's draft held at Mayfield Hotel in Oebalsan-dong, Gangseo-gu, Seoul on Thursday, Bang Kang-ho was chosen by KEPCO after beating over Lee Woo-jin with a "high school special" and "overseas national university."

However, when Hyundai Capital, the winner of last season, shouted "pass" in the second round nomination, there was a sigh of sigh in the hall.

A total of 18 out of 48 players were selected by the professional team. Four of them were trainees. The employment rate was 37.5 percent. It was the lowest ever recorded, far below 43.78 percent last year.

In fact, the atmosphere was unstable even before the event. An official who visited the scene said "Worried if 'Jul Pass' would come out in the second round." Fortunately, only two teams, Hyundai Capital and KEPCO, shouted pass.

Lee Woo-jin and Bang Kang-ho were in the spotlight, but except for these players, there was no player to choose 'all-time'. In particular, university players said that the seeds were dry. Therefore, all three companies of Jecheon Industrial High School, including Bang Kang-ho, who applied for this draft, were selected. Libero Lee Hak-jin, the U-19 national team, also wore a KB Insurance uniform as the No. 1 player in the second round. Even Hyundai Capital's only one player selected in the first round was Jang Ah-sung, a member of the business team Busan Sports Council. I graduated from Chungnam National University last year and participated in the draft I had an unknown pain, but I succeeded in turning my life around in a year.

It was shocking that Hyundai Capital, which is not another team, but the winning team and has ample support from the team, only selected one person and withdrew from the draft. There was a reason. Coach Philip Blanc said, `We already have a lot of young players on our roster. The effort to grow these players alone is not enough time. There was no room. He said, "I couldn't participate in the sports to pick and watch, and I didn't want the player to waste time doing weight training."

Photo courtesy=KOVO

Still, from the player's point of view, it is his dream to join a professional team. It may be too cruel not to even be given that opportunity. Blanc responded, `I fully agree with that opinion. All the applicants would have wanted to be professional. However, being selected in the draft is a process of agreement between the player and me. As soon as I pick, I promise to make the player the best player. However, if that agreement is not reached, it cannot be chosen." To put it simply, I didn't see any players to pick at the professional level.

Korean Air's new coach Henan Dal Zotto said "Young players came to a new dream, but it's a pity that all of them were not nominated. We also wanted to give more players a chance, but the reality was that it didn't work. Most of the clubs are similar. In order to select a new player, the existing player must be sorted out. It's not a good thing to pick. Players who are released also suffer pain. The professional world is a cold place, and there needs to be something better than an existing player to be chosen. Kwon Young-min, the coach of KEPCO who nominated players in the first and third rounds, said "I feel sorry that university players have not been able to get a job. If we needed a player, we would have picked one," he said, referring to the problem of the player pool.

Shin Young-chul, head coach of OK Savings Bank, who selected all the players up to the third round due to the lack of players, said "It's a pity as one of the volleyball players." The players are getting less and less skillful. For Korean volleyball, there should be a change in the elite sports system. It's a pity. I want the association or the federation to prepare it with a long-term plan," he said candidly.

This article was translated by Naver AI translator.