V-League Postseason Format Explained

Finish in the top 4 of the regular season

Each V-League division (men's and women's, 7 clubs each) plays a 36-game regular season (6 rounds, facing each of the other 6 teams once per round), and the top 4 teams by points advance to the postseason. Points aren't simply win count — they follow FIVB's bonus-point system: winning 3-0 or 3-1 earns 3 points, winning a 5-set thriller 3-2 earns 2 points, and losing 2-3 still earns 1 point (losing 0-3 or 1-3 earns 0). So two teams with the same number of wins can end up with different points depending on how those wins were scored, and standings are ordered by points, not by win count.

How the postseason unfolds

1. Semifinal (준플레이오프) - Only played if the 3rd- and 4th-place teams are within 3 points of each other. It's a single win-or-go-home game at the 3rd-place team's home. If the gap is more than 3 points, this round is skipped and 3rd place advances directly.
2. Playoff (플레이오프) - The regular-season runner-up faces the winner of the above (3rd place, or the semifinal winner) in a best-of-3 series.
3. Championship Series (챔피언 결정전) - The regular-season champion gets a bye straight here and faces the Playoff winner (format announced each season).

Finishing higher means clearing fewer rounds, so the race for 1st and 2nd — and for 3rd place specifically (which can skip the semifinal round entirely) — stays tight down the stretch.

What breaks a tie in points?

Teams level on points are ranked by win count, then set ratio, then point ratio, then head-to-head record. Because this site's magic numbers are calculated on points alone, an exact points tie is never treated as already clinched — we always compute conservatively. See the points system & magic number guide for the full method.