The Korea Volleyball Federation (KOVO) announced Tuesday that "internet broadcasting platform SOOP officially submitted its final intent to acquire the Pepper Savings Bank volleyball team to KOVO on the 15th of this month."
According to KOVO, under Article 9 (Change of Club and Club Owner), Paragraph 1 of the federation's regulations, any club owner change resulting from transfer, takeover, or management rights change must be applied for at least three months before the start of official games and must receive approval from the general assembly.
In addition, under Paragraph 2, the party transferring the club must submit a transfer approval application and a transfer-acquisition agreement to the commissioner, while the party acquiring the club must submit documents including the corporation's financial status and a club operation plan.
SOOP must also pay a membership fee determined by the general assembly, and pursuant to the general assembly's resolution, will be required to bear an additional special fund for the development of domestic volleyball on top of the membership fee.
KOVO explained that it will hold an extraordinary board meeting and general assembly as soon as possible after receiving the documents to deliberate on SOOP's acquisition of Pepper Savings Bank and new membership registration.
Pepper Savings Bank, which was launched as the seventh club in 2021, had been pursuing a sale of its volleyball team due to financial problems at its parent company. After the 2025-2026 season, the club sent free agents (FA) Park Jeong-ah and Lee Han-bi to Korea Expressway Corp. and Hyundai E&C, respectively, through sign-and-trade deals. Once contracts with the coaching staff and employees expired, team training was suspended. The club also did not participate in the recent foreign player tryout and draft held in Prague, Czech Republic.
