Kobe, Japan, September 29, 2018 – After missing the last edition, Korea are set to make their return in the FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship against Asian rivals Thailand.
Head-to-head
• Republic of Korea have won seven of their eight encounters with Thailand in major competitions at world level.
• World level major competitions are: Olympic Games, World Championship, World Cup, World Grand Prix, Grand Champions Cup and Nations League.
• Thailand's only victory over Republic of Korea in a major competition at world level came in the 2004 World Grand Prix. Thailand triumphed 3-2 in front of a home crowd in Bangkok.
• These teams met at the World Championship once before. In 1998, in a match also played in Japan, Republic of Korea prevailed 3-0. Thailand were eliminated in the pool phase, Republic of Korea were knocked out in the second pool phase.
• At the World Championship, Republic of Korea have won five of their last eight matches facing other Asian countries, after losing each of the first seven such matches.
• Republic of Korea and Thailand met earlier this year in the Nations League. On 5 June, Republic of Korea triumphed 3-1 in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand.
• These teams also met in qualifying for the 2018 World Championship. On 24 September 2017, Korea won 3-0 in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand. Both teams emerged from their qualifying pool, Korea as winners, Thailand as runners-up.
Republic of Korea
• Republic of Korea are making a 12th appearance at the World Championship, third most by an AVC country. Japan will be appearing for the 16th time in this competition, China for the 14th time.
• Republic of Korea's best finish is third place in 1967 and 1974. In those years, the tournament was contested in round robin format.
• Four years ago, Republic of Korea failed to qualify for the world championship for the first time since 1970. They finished behind China and Kazakhstan in the final qualifying round.
• Republic of Korea won all of their four matches in qualifying for the 2018 world championship and did not drop a single set in those four matches.
• Republic of Korea finished in 13th place in each of their last two World Championship participations (2006 and 2010). They had not finished outside the top 10 in their first nine appearances in the competition.
Thailand• Thailand will be making a fifth appearance at the world championships. They made their competition debut in Japan in 1998.
• Thailand have finished in either 13th or 17th place in each of their previous four participations at the World Championship. All of these tournaments were contested by 24 teams.
• All five matches involving Thailand at the 2014 World Championship were won in straight sets. Thailand won one of those matches, against Mexico, and lost the other four.
• Thailand have played more than half (12 of 22) of their matches at World Championships held in Japan. Their track record in those 12 matches is W4-L8.
• Thailand won the first set in six of their 22 matches at World Championships and went on to win five of those six matches.