Top women's volleyball clubs from Korea, China and Japan to meet for first 'Supermatch' in Jeju
The Jeju 2026 Women's Volleyball Top Clubs Supermatch will mark the first time that leading women's volleyball clubs from the three countries have competed together at a single event.
Incheon Heungkuk Life Insurance Pink Spiders fans cheer during the team's 2025-26 V-League women's playoff match against GS Caltex at Jangchung Arena in central Seoul on March 24.NEWS1
Top women’s professional volleyball clubs from Korea, China and Japan will gather on Jeju Island for the inaugural Korea-China-Japan women’s volleyball match.
The Jeju 2026 Women’s Volleyball Top Clubs Supermatch will take place at Halla Gymnasium on Jeju Island on Aug. 1 and 2, bringing together some of the three countries’ strongest teams for an international exhibition event.
The Incheon Heungkuk Life Insurance Pink Spiders and Suwon Hyundai Engineering & Construction (Hyundai E&C) Hillstate will represent Korea. Osaka Marvelous, formerly JT Marvelous, and Shanghai Bright Ubest will do the same for Japan and China, respectively.
On Aug. 1, the Pink Spiders will face Osaka Marvelous, and Hillstate will take on Shanghai Bright Ubest. The following day, the Korean teams will swap opponents, with the Pink Spiders facing Shanghai while Hillstate play Osaka.
A poster for the Jeju 2026 Women's Volleyball Top Clubs SupermatchKBS N
It will mark the first time that leading women’s volleyball clubs from Korea, China and Japan have competed together at a single event.
Korean teams have previously had limited involvement in international competitions. The KOVO Cup, hosted by the Korea Volleyball Federation, invited China’s Tianjin, Japan’s Denso Airybees and Thailand’s ThaiBev in 2009, while a men’s international club tournament featuring Korea’s CheonanHyundai Capital Skywalkers, Japan’s JTEKT Stings and China’s Shanghai Golden Age took place in 2016.
Not only is the Jeju tournament expected to open a new chapter in volleyball exchanges among the three countries, but it will also mark the island’s first time hosting a professional volleyball match, as it does not house a V-League franchise.
“We plan to transform Jeju into a hub for Asian exchange through a wide range of content, including live broadcasts of every match and a documentary [on the tournament], while presenting a new model for an international event that combines sports and culture,” KBS N, the event organizer, said.
Players included on their national teams’ extended rosters will not be eligible to compete in line with recommendations from the International Volleyball Federation.
The Jeju tournament will feature some of the most successful clubs in East Asian women’s volleyball.
The Pink Spiders are the most decorated team in the V-League, having won five league titles since its launch in 2005. Hillstate captured the championship in the 2023-24 season and has won three league titles overall.
Osaka has reached the Japan SV.League finals in each of the past three seasons and won the 2024-25 championship. The club has maintained close ties with the Pink Spiders, with the two holding a public exhibition match in Korea in 2024. Pink Spiders coach Tomoko Yoshihara also led Osaka for nine years beginning in 2015, meaning the upcoming match will reunite her with her former club.
Shanghai, coached by Cai Bin, won the 2025-26 Chinese league title after reaching the finals in each of the past four seasons.
Heungkuk Life Insurance Pink Spiders coach Tomoko Yoshihara during the team's 2025-26 V-League women's playoff match against GS Caltex at Jangchung Arena in central Seoul on March 24NEWS1
Coincidentally, Kim Yeon-koung, one of the greatest Korean players in women’s volleyball history, was a member of three of the participating clubs.
Kim joined the Pink Spiders in 2005 before beginning her overseas career with then-JT Marvelous in 2009. She helped the club win its first league title during her two seasons there. After playing in Turkey from 2011 to 2017, she had two stints with Shanghai during the 2017-18 and 2021-22 seasons and finished as league runner-up on both occasions.
The Jeju event will also feature several notable offseason transfers.
The Pink Spiders’ roster includes outside hitter Pyo Seung-ju, who returns to professional volleyball after a one-year absence. Middle blocker Bae Yoo-na, who joined Hillstate this year after spending a decade with the Gimcheon Korea Expressway Corporation Hi-Pass, will also compete. Hillstate will also field Asian quota player Megawati Hangestri Pertiwi, who previously starred for the JungKwanJang Red Sparks.
Tickets are available through Ticketlink, with on-site sales also scheduled on match days.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
