Lee Da-yeong to spend 2022-23 season in Romania

An image posted on Lee Da-yeong’s Instagram account on Tuesday shows an announcement from Rapid Bucuresti celebrating her new contract with the club. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Lee Da-yeong will continue her volleyball career without her twin sister, playing the 2022-23 season in Romania with Rapid Bucuresti after signing a deal on Monday.

Rapid Bucuresti is part of the Divizia A1, the top-tier Romanian women's professional volleyball league. Last season, the club finished seventh out of 12 clubs.

Lee Da-yeong posted about the move on social media on Tuesday, after inking the deal on Monday as her contract with Greek club PAOK Thessaloniki ended. PAOK Thessaloniki is part of the top-tier Greek women's volleyball league, the A1 Ethniki.

Lee Da-yeong and her twin sister Lee Jae-yeong were two of Korea's biggest volleyball stars, but left for Greece last season after being embroiled in a scandal in February when a former middle school teammate of the pair accused them of being bullies when in school, listing 21 specific allegations including claims that one of the sisters threatened her with a knife. The Korean national team indefinitely suspended the pair and banned them from ever holding coaching positions.

The pair had looked to Korea's V League until Kim Yeo-il, general manager of their former club Heungkuk Life Insurance Pink Spiders, told the board of directors of the Korea Volleyball Federation in June last year that the two players would be registered for the 2021-22 season, and public opinion flared up and the club eventually dropped the plan to register the pair.

As effectively free agents, the sisters received an offer from PAOK Thessaloniki, but required an International Transfer Certificate (ITC). An ITC can be granted only by the Korea Volleyball Association or Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) under the assumption that all parties; the players, the original club, the potential club and the association, agree on their transfer.

The Korea Volleyball Association refused to issue the certificate, quoting rules regarding international transfers that prohibit any players who have conducted violence, sexual harassment, manipulated game results or evaded military service from playing overseas. However, the FIVB didn't accept that justification and issued an ITC for the pair, enabling the twins to play in Greece.

Lee Da-yeong flew to Greece to start playing for PAOK alongside her twin Lee Jae-young on Oct. 16 last year. Lee Jae-young returned to Korea less than a month later on Nov. 12 to receive medical treatment for a knee injury after briefly joining the club, while Lee Da-yeong played the whole season in Greece.

The A1 season started on Oct. 9, 2021 and continued until March this year, with the continental CEV Cup matches running at the same time. PAOK Thessaloniki finished third in their league.

The Romanian league will start on Oct. 15.

BY YUN SO-HYANG [yun.sohyang@joongang.co.kr]