With the professional volleyball women’s FA (free agent) market open, attention is focused on the destination of Kim Yeon-kyung (35), the ‘Volleyball Empress’ who put an end to retirement concerns and formalized an active service extension.
After finishing the 2022-2023 season, Kim Yeon-kyung obtained her first FA qualification. Having spent most of his playing career abroad, he belatedly completed six free agent-qualifying seasons all season.
He drew attention by revealing his concerns about retirement during the season, but he took the lead by extending his active service. After the 2022-2023 season Dodram V-League award ceremony held at the Grand Hyatt Seoul Grand Ballroom in Yongsan-gu, Seoul on the 10th, Kim Yeon-kyung showed a willingness to extend his active career.
This season, Kim Yeon-kyung led Heungkuk Life Insurance to the regular league championship. He showed off his strength by ranking 5th in points (669 points) and 1st in overall offense (45.76%). Thanks to this performance, the reporters voted 31 votes unanimously to win the regular league MVP. He became the second unanimous MVP unanimous winner of all time after Lee Jae-young (former Heungkuk Life Insurance) in the 2018-2019 season.
However, the dream of a unified victory was not fulfilled. In the championship match, Korea Expressway Corporation was caught in the ankle. Heungkuk Life Insurance took the 1st and 2nd games first in the 5-game 3-match championship match, but lost 3 games and stayed in the runner-up.
In response, Kim Yeon-kyung expressed his strong desire for a combined victory and his intention to extend his active career. He said, “I missed the combined championship this season, so my desire for the championship seems to have increased.” said.
When asked again about the exact position on the extension of active duty, Kim Yeon-kyung said, “Many people say ‘not yet’. I had to consider it because I feel that the performance is still good.” he replied. After careful consideration, he gave up the idea of retirement.
Now, attention is focused on Kim Yeon-kyung’s next destination. He must be interested in a team that is actively investing as much as it shows its aspirations to win. Kim Yeon-kyung said, “I’m trying to choose a team that can achieve a combined victory,” and explained, “I think it’s very important what kind of volleyball the team wants and what kind of vision it has.”
In the midst of various speculations, a question came up asking if he would play with players he is close to, such as former teammate Kim Su-ji, who is currently released as a free agent. I also followed the curiosity about the member who will win the championship with Kim Yeon-kyung.
Kim Yeon-gyeong said, “I don’t know if it’s okay to talk,” and after she hesitated, she confessed, “There are some players who talked about playing together.” She continued, “We know each other very well, but it’s not like we were asked to run together.”
You can’t help but consider the salary cap, which limits the total amount of your salary. The salary cap for the women’s division next season is 2.8 billion won. Her range of maneuver is not very wide for Kim Yeon-kyung, who receives the highest annual salary of 700 million won in the women’s division.
However,바카라 she has a strong will to be with a team that can win even if Kim Yeon-kyung gives up her good treatment. He said, “If you have the power to win, it’s possible,” he said.
Finally, Kim Yeon-kyung mentioned the duration of her free agent contract. Usually free agents sign a three-year contract, but he confessed, “I’m not thinking about it until three years. I think I’ll have to think about whether to extend it every year.” She continued, “However, the contract team has a compensation problem, so I think we need to think about that part as well.”