# 2022–23 V.League Division 1 Men's

The 2022–23 V.League Division 1 Men's is the 29th tournament of the V.League which began from 22 October 2022 to 23 April 2023.
Wolfdogs Nagoya beat defending champion Suntory Sunbirds with straight sets in final match to regain the title of V.League after seven years. Bartosz Kurek was named the MVP of the season. Oita Miyoshi Weisse Adler demoted to V.League Division 2 after losing in the V.Challenge match.

## Club
### Personnel

2022–23 V.League Division 1 Men's :
| Club | Head Coach | Captain | Province/City | Main Sponsor |
| Suntory Sunbirds | Kota Yamamura | Masaki Oya | Minoh, Osaka | Suntory |
| Wolfdogs Nagoya | Valerio Baldovin | Bartosz Kurek | Inazawa, Aichi | Toyoda Gosei |
| Panasonic Panthers | Laurent Tillie | Akihiro Yamauchi | Hirakata, Osaka | Panasonic |
| Toray Arrows | Ayumu Shinoda | Yudai Minemura | Mishima, Shizuoka | Toray Industries |
| Osaka Blazers Sakai | Shinya Chiba | Dekita Takashi | Sakai, Osaka | Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal |
| JT Thunders Hiroshima | Raúl Lozano | Taishi Onodera | Hiroshima, Hiroshima | Japan Tobacco |
| JTEKT Stings | Federico Fagiani | Ryuta Homma | Kariya, Aichi | JTEKT |
| Tokyo Greatbears | Koichiro Shimbo | Koga Taichiro | Sumida, Tokyo | NatureLab Tokyo |
| Oita Miyoshi Weisse Adler | Murray Pole | Masato Kubota | Oita, Oita | The Oita Bank Ltd. |
| VC Nagano Tridents | Shinji Kawamura | Kohta Ikeda | Takamori, Nagano | Germo Corporation Ltd. |

### Transfer players

The list of transfer players in the 2022–23 season :
| Player | Moving from | Moving to |
| Japanese players ||||
| Hidetomo Hoshino | Jakarta BNI 46 | Tokyo Great Bears |
| Hirohito Kashimura | Suntory Sunbirds | Voreas Hokkaido |
| Kazuma Sonae | Oita Miyoshi Weisse Adler | VC Nagano Tridents |
| Kento Miyaura | JTEKT Stings | PSG Stal Nysa |
| Masahiro Sekita | Cuprum Lubin | JTEKT Stings |
| Masahiro Yanagida | Suntory Sunbirds | JTEKT Stings |
| Nakano Ryu | Saitama Azalea | VC Nagano Tridents |
| Shohei Nose | Savo Volley | Tokyo Great Bears |
| Soshi Fujinaka | VC Nagano Tridents | Suntory Sunbirds |
| Ryo Shimokawa | Hyogo Delfino | VC Nagano Tridents |
| Takahiro Tozaki | Toray Arrows | Tokyo Great Bears |
| Yamagishi Jun | VC Nagano Tridents | Voreas Hokkaido |
| Yuji Nishida | Volley Callipo | JTEKT Stings |
| Foreign players ||||
| Aaron Russell | Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza | JT Thunders Hiroshima |
| Bryan Bagunas | Oita Miyoshi Weisse Adler | Win Streak |
| Carlos Alberto Araujo | Alahly Benghazi Sports Club | VC Nagano Tridents |
| Chen Chien-Chen | JT Thunders Hiroshima | Safilva Hokkaido |
| Doni Haryono | Bogor LavAni | VC Nagano Tridents |
| Enock Some | Smouha Sporting Club | Oita Miyoshi Weisse Adler |
| Geng Xin | Tianjin Food Group | Panasonic Panthers |
| Jiang Chuan | Beijing BAIC Motor | JT Thunders Hiroshima |
| Kantapat Koonmee | Diamond Food-Fine Chef Sport Club | Oita Miyoshi Weisse Adler |
| Marck Espejo | FC Tokyo | Cignal HD Spikers |
| Rafael Araújo | Narbonne Volley | Tokyo Great Bears |
| Rivan Nurmulki | VC Nagano Tridents | Bhayangkara Volleyball Club |
| Thomas Edgar | JT Thunders Hiroshima | Galatasaray HDI Istanbul |
| Tine Urnaut | VC Zenit Saint Petersburg | JTEKT Stings |
| Wang Dongchen | Beijing BAIC Motor | Wolfdogs Nagoya |
| Zhang Binglong | Beijing BAIC Motor | Tokyo Great Bears |

### Foreign players

The total number of foreign players is restricted to one per club. Player from Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) nations are exempt from these restrictions.
The list of 2022–23 V.League Division 1 Men's Foreign Players :
| Club | Player | From AVC |
| Suntory Sunbirds | Dmitry Muserskiy (CEV) | Peng Shikun |
| Wolfdogs Nagoya | Bartosz Kurek (CEV) | Wang Dongchen |
| Panasonic Panthers | Michał Kubiak (CEV) | Geng Xin |
| Toray Arrows | Krisztián Pádár (CEV) | none |
| Osaka Blazers Sakai | Sharone Vernon-Evans (NORCECA) | none |
| JT Thunders Hiroshima | Aaron Russell (NORCECA) | Jiang Chuan |
| JTEKT Stings | Tine Urnaut (CEV) | Chen Longhai |
| Tokyo Greatbears | Rafael Araújo (CSV) | Zhang Binglong |
| Oita Miyoshi Weisse Adler | Enock Some (CAVB) | Kantapat Koonmee |
| VC Nagano Tridents | Carlos Alberto Araujo (NORCECA) | Doni Haryono |

### Informal players

An informal player is a player still in high school or university but given a contract. Informal players are formally registered in V.League Organization and able to play on court.
The list of 2022–23 V.League Division 1 Men's Informal players :
| Players | From High schools/Universities | To Club |
| Shunichiro Sato | Tokai University | JTEKT Stings |
| Daigo Iwamoto | Waseda University | JTEKT Stings |
| Ryu Yamamoto | Tokai University | Suntory Sunbirds |
| Ren Oniki | Nippon Sport Science University | Suntory Sunbirds |
| Tobias Takeshi | Waseda University | Toray Arrows |
| Tatsunori Otsuka | Waseda University | Panasonic Panthers |
| Larry Ebadedan-Dan | University of Tsukuba | Panasonic Panthers |
| Yuga Tarumi | University of Tsukuba | Panasonic Panthers |
| Keitaro Nishikawa | University of Tsukuba | Panasonic Panthers |
| Yuki Imahashi | Aoyama Gakuin University | Tokyo Great Bears |
| Takumi Kameyama | Juntendo University | Tokyo Great Bears |
| Hiroki Koto | Chukyo University | VC Nagano Tridents |
| Taiga Itoyama | Fukuoka University | VC Nagano Tridents |
| Kosuke Yasui | Meiji University | Osaka Blazers Sakai |
| Naoto Akima | Waseda University | Osaka Blazers Sakai |
| Shigeru Muto | Nippon Sport Science University | Oita Miyoshi Weisse Adler |
| Amane Kumagai | Fukuoka University | Oita Miyoshi Weisse Adler |
| Kou Yamashita | University of East Asia | Oita Miyoshi Weisse Adler |
| Yuji Kudo | Meiji University | VC Nagano Tridents |
| Shuto Kawaguchi | Nippon Sport Science University | JT Thunders Hiroshima |
| Taisei Deguchi | International Budo University | Oita Miyoshi Weisse Adler |

## Competition format
### Regular round

* 10 teams participate in round robin system, playing each other team 4 times.
* Teams are ranked in the Regular Round by:
** Wins ->Points ->Set Percentage ->Scoring Rate
* The top four teams from the Regular Round will advance to the Final Stage
* Ranking of 5th to 10th place will be the ranking of the Regular Round and will be the final ranking. The 9th and 10th placed teams will compete in the V.Challenge Match.

### Final stage

* Top 4 teams of Regular Round to compete each other in one robin round to determine rankings.
* To begin with the Final stage, the winner of regular season will be given 3 points, the 2nd team will be given 2 points, the third one will be given 1 point as advantage.
* Teams are ranked in the Final Stage by:
** Wins ->Points ->Set Percentage ->Scoring Rate ->Ranking of Regular Round
* The 3rd and 4th team of Final Stage will be the final ranking for 3rd and 4th place.
* The top 2 teams of Final stage to play against each other in a one match Final.

## Season standing procedure

* The teams will be ranked by the total number of victories
* The teams will be ranked by the most point gained per match as follows:
** Match won 3–0 or 3–1: 3 points for the winner, 0 points for the loser
** Match won 3–2: 2 points for the winner, 1 point for the loser
** Match forfeited: 3 points for the winner, 0 points (0–25, 0–25, 0–25) for the loser
* If teams are still tied after examining the number of victories and points gained, then the FIVB will examine the results in order to break the tie in the following order:
** Set quotient: if two or more teams are tied on total number of victories, they will be ranked by the quotient resulting from the division of the number of all set won by the number of all sets lost.
** Points quotient: if the tie persists based on the set quotient, the teams will be ranked by the quotient resulting from the division of all points scored by the total of points lost during all sets.
** If the tie persists based on the point quotient, the tie will be broken based on the team that won the match of the Round Robin Phase between the tied teams. When the tie in point quotient is between three or more teams, these teams ranked taking into consideration only the matches involving the teams in question.

## Regular round
### Regular round standing

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | Pts | SW | SL | SR | SPW | SPL | SPR | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Wolfdogs Nagoya | 36 | 26 | 10 | 75 | 84 | 44 | 1.909 | 3006 | 2730 | 1.101 | Qualified for the Final Stage |
| 2 | Suntory Sunbirds | 36 | 25 | 11 | 71 | 82 | 54 | 1.519 | 3154 | 2958 | 1.066 | Qualified for the Final Stage |
| 3 | Panasonic Panthers | 36 | 24 | 12 | 77 | 91 | 50 | 1.820 | 3263 | 2934 | 1.112 | Qualified for the Final Stage |
| 4 | Osaka Blazers Sakai | 36 | 24 | 12 | 71 | 80 | 53 | 1.509 | 3080 | 2920 | 1.055 | Qualified for the Final Stage |
| 5 | Toray Arrows | 36 | 23 | 13 | 62 | 82 | 63 | 1.302 | 3273 | 3215 | 1.018 | |
| 6 | JTEKT Stings | 36 | 22 | 14 | 70 | 79 | 51 | 1.549 | 3016 | 2817 | 1.071 | |
| 7 | JT Thunders Hiroshima | 36 | 16 | 20 | 50 | 62 | 68 | 0.912 | 2935 | 2991 | 0.981 | |
| 8 | Tokyo Greatbears | 36 | 10 | 26 | 31 | 47 | 90 | 0.522 | 2902 | 3174 | 0.914 | |
| 9 | VC Nagano Tridents | 36 | 5 | 31 | 19 | 38 | 96 | 0.396 | 2818 | 3218 | 0.876 | Relegated to V.Challenge Match |
| 10 | Oita Miyoshi Weisse Adler | 36 | 5 | 31 | 14 | 25 | 100 | 0.250 | 2554 | 3044 | 0.839 | Relegated to V.Challenge Match |

### Results table

| Home \ Away | SUN | WDN | PAN | TOR | OBS | JTH | JTE | TGB | OMW | VCN |
| Suntory Sunbirds | | 3–2 | 3–2 | 3–1 | 0–3 | 3–0 | 3–2 | 3–2 | 3–0 | 3–1 |
| | 2–3 | 3–2 | 1–3 | 3–1 | 3–0 | 3–2 | 3–1 | 3–0 | 3–0 |
| Wolfdogs Nagoya | 3–0 | | 0–3 | 3–1 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 3–1 | 3–0 | 3–0 |
| 1–3 | | 1–3 | 2–3 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 0–3 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 3–0 |
| Panasonic Panthers | 3–0 | 2–3 | | 3–1 | 3–1 | 3–2 | 0–3 | 3–0 | 3–1 | 3–0 |
| 3–0 | 2–3 | | 2–3 | 2–3 | 3–1 | 3–2 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 2–3 |
| Toray Arrows | 1–3 | 3–0 | 3–2 | | 3–2 | 1–3 | 3–0 | 3–2 | 3–1 | 3–1 |
| 3–2 | 3–0 | 3–1 | | 1–3 | 3–1 | 1–3 | 3–2 | 3–0 | 3–1 |
| Osaka Blazers Sakai | 3–0 | 2–3 | 3–1 | 3–2 | | 3–1 | 0–3 | 3–1 | 3–1 | 3–1 |
| 3–0 | 0–3 | 0–3 | 0–3 | | 1–3 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 3–1 |
| JT Thunders Hiroshima | 0–3 | 1–3 | 0–3 | 3–0 | 2–3 | | 0–3 | 3–0 | 3–1 | 3–0 |
| 1–3 | 0–3 | 1–3 | 3–1 | 3–1 | | 1–3 | 3–1 | 3–0 | 3–0 |
| JTEKT Stings | 1–3 | 3–0 | 2–3 | 0–3 | 0–3 | 3–1 | | 3–1 | 3–0 | 3–0 |
| 1–3 | 3–0 | 3–1 | 3–1 | 1–3 | 3–0 | | 0–3 | 3–0 | 3–0 |
| Tokyo Greatbears | 0–3 | 0–3 | 0–3 | 0–3 | 0–3 | 0–3 | 2–3 | | 3–1 | 3–2 |
| 0–3 | 0–3 | 0–3 | 0–3 | 1–3 | 3–2 | 3–2 | | 3–0 | 3–1 |
| Oita Miyoshi Weisse Adler | 3–1 | 0–3 | 0–3 | 2–3 | 0–3 | 0–3 | 0–3 | 1–3 | | 3–1 |
| 0–3 | 0–3 | 0–3 | 3–2 | 1–3 | 0–3 | 0–3 | 3–2 | | 3–1 |
| VC Nagano Tridents | 3–1 | 0–3 | 1–3 | 2–3 | 0–3 | 2–3 | 0–3 | 2–3 | 3–0 | |
| 0–3 | 2–3 | 1–3 | 3–0 | 1–3 | 0–3 | 1–3 | 1–3 | 3–1 | |

### Match results

* All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+09:00).

#### Matchday 19
## Final stage
### Final four

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | Pts | SW | SL | SR | Qualification |
| 1 | Suntory Sunbirds | 3 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 9 | 6 | 1.500 | Advance for the Final Match |
| 2 | Wolfdogs Nagoya | 3 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 8 | 4 | 2.000 | Advance for the Final Match |
| 3 | Panasonic Panthers | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 0.857 | |
| 4 | Osaka Blazers Sakai | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 0.333 | |
* Bonus points of regular round: 1st place–3 point, 2nd place–2 point, 3rd place–1 point, 4th place–0 point.

#### Matches
### Final

| Final | Final |
| Suntory Sunbirds | 0 |
| Wolfdogs Nagoya | 3 |

#### Final Match
## All-Star

* VOM: Bartosz Kurek (Team Billy)

## Final standing

| Rank | Team |
| | Wolfdogs Nagoya |
| | Suntory Sunbirds |
| | Panasonic Panthers |
| 4 | Osaka Blazers Sakai |
| 5 | Toray Arrows |
| 6 | JTEKT Stings |
| 7 | JT Thunders Hiroshima |
| 8 | Tokyo Greatbears |
| 9 | VC Nagano Tridents |
| 10 | Oita Miyoshi Weisse Adler |
* Qualified for the 2024 Asian Club Championship

## Awards
### Individual awards (technical performance)

* Best scorer
** Krisztián Pádár
* Best spiker
** Hiromasa Miwa
* Best blocker
** Kentaro Takahashi
* Best server
** Aaron Russell
* Best receiver
** Kazuma Sonae
Source:

### V.League Honour award

The award was distributed to players who participate in 10 seasons or more, 230 games or more.
* Hidetomo Hoshino [ja] (Tokyo Great Bears)
* Shin Takahiro [ja] (Panasonic Panthers)
* Takuya Yasunaga [ja] (JT Thunders Hiroshima)
* Ryosuke Hakamaya [ja] (JTEKT Stings)

### Outstanding personal records

* (vacancy for this season)

### Final stage

* Most valuable player
** Bartosz Kurek
* Fighting spirit award
** Dmitry Muserskiy
* Best Six
** Bartosz Kurek
** Dmitry Muserskiy
** Tatsunori Otsuka
** Ryota Denda
** Akihiro Yamauchi
** Masaki Oya
* Best libero
** Tomohiro Ogawa
* Receive award
** Kenya Fujinaka
* Best newcomer award
** (vacancy for this season)
* Best coach award
** Valerio Baldovin
* Matsudaira Yasutaka award
** Valerio Baldovin
* Special award
** Naonobu Fujii

## V.Challenge Match
### Qualification

Division 1 Teams ranked 9th and 10th and Division 2 teams ranked 1st and 2nd.
* Teams from Division 2 must obtain S1 license.
| Teams from V.1 | Teams from V.2 |
| VC Nagano Tridents | Voreas Hokkaido |
| Oita Miyoshi Weisse Adler | Fujitsu Kawasaki Red Spirits |

### Format

V1 9th place team vs V2 2nd place team V1 10th place team vs V2 1st place team
Teams to play 2 match system. The winning teams to promote to/ stay in 2023–24 V.League.
The winning team is determined as follow:
Wins ->Points ->Set Percentage ->Scoring Rate -> V.1 Teams

### Results

* Promoted to/Stayed in Division 1
* Deomoted to/Stayed in Division 2
* Team
* VC Nagano Tridents
* Voreas Hokkaido
* Fujitsu Kawasaki Red Spirits
* Oita Miyoshi Weisse Adler