The South Jeolla-Gwangju Special Integrated City announced Thursday that the women's professional volleyball club Soop Supers has confirmed the region as its home base and submitted a home registration application to the Korea Volleyball Federation (KOVO).
The AI Peppers volleyball club, which had been based in Gwangju, disbanded in April, and Soop subsequently acquired the club. With the home base now confirmed, the South Jeolla-Gwangju region gains a new professional sports franchise to represent the area.
The South Jeolla-Gwangju Special Integrated City said it hopes the confirmation will serve as more than simply securing a professional club — it expects the move to spark a revival of winter professional sports in the region.
The South Jeolla-Gwangju area had gone without a winter professional sports team for years after two basketball franchises relocated — the Nasan Flamants in 2000 and the Shinsegae Cool Cats in 2006.
The disbanding of AI Peppers had raised fresh concerns that the region's winter professional sports scene would again go dark, but the Soop club's decision to make South Jeolla-Gwangju its home has put those fears to rest with the launch of a new local franchise.
The integrated city had been running a dedicated task force with the Gwangju Metropolitan City Sports Council since March to attract a women's professional volleyball club. The task force searched for a company to acquire a club and held talks with KOVO throughout the process. Jeon Gap-su, chairman of the Gwangju Metropolitan City Sports Council, and Vice Chairman Park Jong-gyu, along with the broader local sports community, played a significant role in making it happen.
Ahead of the official home confirmation, the Soop club began training at Yeomju General Gymnasium in Seo-gu on July 20, already preparing for the new season in South Jeolla-Gwangju.
The club has completed its roster with the signings of foreign player Adriana Fitzmorris, Asian-quota player Yi Zhu Xue, and domestic players Jeon Sae-yan and Song Eun-chae. Lee Min-won, co-representative director of Soop, will serve as club owner, while Kim Se-jin, former head of KOVO's competition operations division, will take charge as the club's inaugural head coach.
Kim is a former national team star who played for Samsung Fire. He has a proven track record of building a new club into a contender quickly — he took the helm as founding coach of Ansan OK Savings Bank in 2013, led the team to a championship in just its second season, then repeated as champions the following year.
Soop is a platform company that provides diverse content through individual media creators and real-time interaction, and operates broadly in esports through tournament hosting, broadcasting and professional team management. The Soop volleyball club is expected to combine professional volleyball with digital content to deepen fan engagement and inject new energy into the local sports culture.
South Jeolla-Gwangju Special Integrated City Mayor Min Hyeong-bae said the confirmation "marks a meaningful moment that opens a new chapter in regional sports history alongside the launch of the integrated special city." He added that he hopes the Soop club will "become a team that citizens cheer for and enjoy together, and one that grows alongside the community."
sij@heraldcorp.com
