‘Three foreign commanders’ Changes in the V-League
Foreign coaches are appearing one after another in professional volleyball. Three out of 14 men’s and women’s clubs teamed up with foreign coaches.
Pepper Savings Bank in the V-League Women’s Division announced on the 17th that Korean-American coach Aachen Kim (38), who led the American Brown University volleyball team from the 2023-2024 season, will take the baton. Two days later, on the 19th, Heungkuk Life Insurance announced that it had signed a contract with former Turkish Airlines coach Marcello Abondanza (53), a world leader from Italy, until the 2024-2025 season.
Head coach Avon Dandan will make his V-League debut against Korea Expressway Corporation on the 23rd. He took on the heavy responsibility of leading Heungkuk Life Insurance, which had risen to the top by overtaking Hyundai Engineering & Construction, the “defending champion,” to the championship. Pepper Savings Bank will serve as acting coach Lee Kyung-soo for the remainder of the season.
As the two women’s teams successively entrusted the baton to a foreigner, the number of foreign commanders in the V-League increased to three. In the past, Korean Air’s coach Tommy Tilikayinen (36), who came from Finland, was the only one. It is the first time in 12 seasons that a foreign coach has appeared on the women’s team since Japanese coach Mamoru Bandai, who directed Heungkuk Life Insurance in the 2010-2011 season. Coach Mamoru was the first foreign coach in the V-League.
Through the appointment of a foreign manager, the club can aim to renew the team atmosphere and transplant advanced volleyball at once. The new coach of Aachen Kim Pepper Savings Bank, who started his leadership career in 2008, has been coaching the Brown University volleyball team in Division 1 of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) since 2018. In 2021, three years after his appointment, he raised the team to No. 1 in the Ivy League and achieved advancement to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in Brown vs. history.
Heungkuk Life coach Abon Danza, who took his first step as a leader in the Italian league in 1996, was recognized for his leadership by leading world-class teams such as Azerbaijan Lavita Baku, Turkey Fenerbahce, and Italy Zanetti Bergamo. He even served as coach of the Bulgarian, Canadian and Greek national teams. From the 2013-2014 season to the 2016-2017 season, I ate one pot rice with Kim Yeon-kyung as a manager and player at Fenerbahce. They won two league championships in the 2014-2015 season and the 2016-2017 season.
Korean Air, which has been working with a foreign coach for the third season, is a good example. Ahead of the 2020-2021 season, Korean Air won its first combined championship by recruiting coach Roberto Santilli, the first foreign commander in the men’s division. The following year, he was replaced by manager Tillikainen and succeeded in reaching the top for two consecutive years. This season, it is challenging to win the championship for three consecutive years, competing for the lead with Hyundai Capital, which is seeking to restore its reputation.
There is a successful precedent, so expectations are high for foreign coaches who have newly jumped into the V-League. It remains to be seen whether coach Abondanza will be able to create another championship with Kim Yeon-kyung, and how far coach Kim will raise Pepper Savings Bank, the ‘last place’. 카지노