The number of foreign players permitted in Korean professional volleyball will increase from two to three starting in the 2027-2028 season.
The Korea Volleyball Federation (KOVO) held its sixth board meeting and an extraordinary general assembly Tuesday at the federation's conference room in Mapo-gu, Seoul, where it approved changes to the foreign player and Asian quota systems.
The key change raises the cap on foreign-nationality players, currently two—one foreign player and one Asian quota player—to three from the 2027-2028 season.
The men's division can field one additional foreign player and the women's division one additional Asian quota player, and all three foreign-nationality players can be put on the court during matches.
For the men's division, clubs can sign two foreign players plus one Asian quota player. However, the salaries of the two foreign players will differ. The relatively more skilled one will receive $400,000 in the first year and $550,000 in the second year. The salary of the other foreign player was sharply lowered to $150,000 in the first year and $170,000 in the second year.
The salary for the Asian quota, which is limited to players from Asian countries, was raised from the previous $120,000 in the first year and $150,000 in the second year to $150,000 in the first year and $170,000 in the second year, matching the salary of the second foreign player.
The women's division Asian quota salary is the same at $150,000 in the first year and $170,000 in the second year.
The federation board placed a limit allowing foreign players and Asian quota players to be replaced only through the fifth round starting from the 2026-2027 season. The measure aims to quell fairness disputes by preventing teams that have secured a spot in the "spring volleyball" playoffs from bringing in new foreign players to use only in the postseason.
However, the federation left room for replacements after the sixth round if a player receives a diagnosis of an injury requiring eight or more weeks from a doctor recognized by the federation.
Following the expiration of Secretary General Shin Mu-cheol's term, the federation elected Eom Jae-yong (pictured), CEO of T-Cast, as the new secretary general for a three-year term effective July 1. It also appointed Kim Sang-woo, former head coach of Samsung Fire, as the successor to operations chief Kim Se-jin, who moved to become head coach of the women's division club SOOP.
The name of the SOOP club, which was relaunched after acquiring Pepper Savings Bank, was finalized as the SOOP SOOPers volleyball team.
