*This content was translated by AI.
Men's professional volleyball Hyundai Capital's "Miracle of 0%" was not realized in the end. However, Hyundai Capital never gave up despite the controversy over the decision, even when it was pushed to the edge of the cliff. Rather, he showed his power to lead the championship game (champ match, 3 wins out of 5 games) to the last 5 games. Although he failed to win the championship, it was the reason why fans applauded.
Hyundai Capital, led by head coach Philip Blanc of France, lost 1-3 (18-25, 21-25, 25-19, 23-25) to Korean Air in Game 5 of the 2025-2026 Professional Volleyball V-League Men's Championship at Gyeyang Gymnasium in Incheon on the 10th. After losing the first and second games earlier, the momentum that brought the game to square one with wins in the third and fourth games was defeated in Incheon away in the final fifth game.
Even before the championship match, he played the final game of Game 5 despite the expectation that it would be an "easy game." In fact, Hyundai Capital faced Woori Card in two consecutive full-set games in the previous playoff (PO). In both games, he wrote a drama that turned the tables after losing the first two sets and then winning three sets down. However, he faced Korean Air, which went straight to the championship as the No. 1 regular league player, with that physical burden.
Even Hyundai Capital played a full set game in both the first and second rounds of the championship match against Korean Air. It was the fourth consecutive postseason full set. In addition, in the match point situation of the fifth set of the second game, the controversy over the decision was added, and the dramatic opportunity to win was wasted. The crisis could have greatly reduced motivation and concentration due to the increased physical burden and the controversy over the decision. Hyundai Capital's prospects for the championship were also darkened by the fact that the winning team in the first and second rounds of the championship had a 100% chance of winning the championship and that the championship ended in the third round in the last three consecutive seasons.
However, Hyundai Capital did not give up. The controversy over the second game decision became a blessing in disguise. Hyundai Capital, filled with anger, scored a complete 3-0 shutout victory until Game 4 following Game 3 at home, turning the game to square one. It was the first time in five seasons since the 2020-2021 season that the men's championship game led to the "final match" in the last five games.
Hyundai Capital fans cheered for the first-ever reverse sweep win through banners such as "Let's go with a 0% miracle!" Attention was focused on whether to reverse sweep for the first time ever, overturning the previous 11 history in which the winning teams of the first and second games won all the championships. Since the decision controversy, Hyundai Capital has been leading the game until Game 5 with complete shutdown wins in Games 3 and 4, so Hyundai Capital has been superior to Korean Air in terms of momentum.
However, the 0% miracle did not easily come true. While Korean Air's concentration on returning to its home turf was different from the previous 3rd and 4th games, Hyundai Capital's concentration was significantly lower from the beginning of the game. I couldn't overcome the physical limitations that came in the last game. Hyundai Capital played as many as seven games in the 15 days to this day. With fatigue accumulated due to repeated full-set games at the beginning of the postseason, it was not enough to last until Game 5 of the Champions League. Nevertheless, he won three sets to lay the groundwork for the chase, and in the fourth set, he won a close game to increase his chances of winning a major upset, but in the end, he had to look at the opponent's "winning celebration."
Although they did not make the first history of men's volleyball, Hyundai Capital fans gave the team a warm round of applause after the game. The fans were impressed enough by the defeat in the first and second games and the fact that they did not give up until the end and continued the game until the fifth game despite the fact that they were on the edge of the cliff early on and the decision issue overlapped. Coach Blanc said, "The anger over the second game (which was controversial in the judgment) did not fade, but congratulations to Korean Air." "It was a team that deserved to win," he said. "I tried to hit it to the end like I did in Cheonan, but there was a physical limit. I couldn't take that step forward," he said, expressing his feelings after completing his journey to the championship.
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*This content was translated by AI.
