Kim Yeon-Koung Net Worth: Salary, Endorsements & House

South Korean Professional Volleyball player Kim Yeon-koung has a net worth of $1.09 million.

Kim Yeon-Koung is often listed as one of the most prominent volleyball players in the world. Currently, she plays for Heungkuk Life. And is also the captain of the Korean volleyball team.

She has won numerous medals for South Korea, including gold in the 2014 Asian games.

Kim has played with JTR marvelous, Fenerbahce, and Incheon Heungkuk Life Pink spiders at the club level.

There is no question about the volleyball skills of talented Kim. She is so good at ger game that she was the top scorer in the 2012 London Olympics despite not having a podium finish. 

She carries the Olympics record for the highest score of 207 points in eight games, surpassing Gamova’s 204 points in 2004 Athens.

Although volleyball is not the sport that pays very well compared to similar sports such as basketball, Kim is considered one of the most well-earning volley players. 

This article will go through her net worth, income assets, endorsements, and much more. But first, here are some intersecting facts about the champion:

Table of Contents

1 Kim Yeon-koung: Quick Facts2 Kim Yeon Koung Net Worth: Income and salary2.1 Humble Beginnings2.2 Moving to Turkey3 Kim Yeon-Koung Net Worth: House and Cars4 Kim Yeon-Koung Net Worth: Endorsements5 Kim Yeon-Koung Net Worth: Business and Investments6 Kim Yeon-Koung Net Worth: Charity7 Kim Yeon-Koung Net Worth: Career Summary8 Kim Yeon-Koung: Social media9 Kim Yeon-Koung: Interesting Facts10 Quotes11 Kim Yeon-Koung: Frequently Asked Questions11.1 Does Kim Yeon-Koung have tattoos?11.2 Does Kim Yeon-Koung have Olympics Medal?

Kim Yeon-koung: Quick Facts

Full Name	Kim Yeon-koung
Native Name	김연경 (Korean)
Common Name	Kim Yeon-koung
Nick Name	Bread Unnie, Yaki, Yeonpal, Volleyball Empress
Birthdate	26 February 1988
Age	33 years old
Zodiac Sign	Pisces
Mother’s Name	Lee Keum-Ok
Father’s Name	Kim Dong-Gil
Siblings	One sister, Kim Hye-Kyung
Birthplace	Ansan, South Korea
Home Town	Ansan, South Korea
Citizenship	South Korean
Residence	Suwon, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
School	Hanil Women’s High Schoo
College	N/A
Education	N/A
Height	1.92 m (6’4″)
Weight	73 kg (161 lb)
Eye Colour	Black
Hair Colour	Black
Shoe Size	13.5 US
Martial Status	Unmarried
Partner	None
Married	No
Children	No
Profession	Professional Volleyball Player
Debut	2005 (Pro Debut)
Olympics Wins	None
Awards	Four MVP awards
Position	Outside Hitter
Highest Rank	World.no 1
Jersey No.	10
Status	Active
Current Club	Heungkuk Life, South Korean National Team
Past clubs	Fenerbahçe, JT Marvelous
Hobbies	Vlogging, Travelling
Net Worth	$1.9 Million
Affiliated Brands	Pink Spiders, Vaseline Korea
Social Media	Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram
Website	N/A
Volleyball Merch	Tshirts, Shoes, Set
Last-Update	February, 2022

Kim Yeon Koung Net Worth: Income and salary

Most of the Kim’s income comes from her contracts and the rest from her endorsement deals. Well, volleyball clubs don’t pay a crazy amount of money like soccer or basketball.

But, Kim is one of the most sought-after players, and big clubs are willing to spend tons of money on her.

Over the years, Kim’s contracts have only raised in their value. 

Humble Beginnings

During her first season with Pink Spiders back in 2005, her salary was 50 million won.

After she drastically improved the club’s rank, her salary plummeted as well. During the 2007-2008 season, she took 94 million won as an annual salary.

Similarly, Kim received 120 million won for the following season. 

For the next season, Kim was transferred to Japanese club JT marvelous for one year on loan. The exact transfer amount was not disclosed, but Korean media speculated about 400 million won.

A small portion of the salary was spent on the Kim Yeon Kyung Scholarship.

This amount of salary was the highest in V-Leagues men and women’s divisions in 2009.

Moving to Turkey

Her much-hyped moved to turkey provided her with salary, incentives, housing, vehicles, and interpretation services for 620 million won (400,000 euros) after tax. 

An article published in a sports magazine during London Olympics stated that Kim was the highest-paid female volleyball player globally. It was received that she earned around $1 million.

In the 2016-17 season, Kim signed a contract renewal for two more years with turkey, where her new annual salary was estimated to be 1.2 million euros.

Though these amounts are kept disclosed, the media like to provide a calculated estimate. In some articles, it is also claimed to be 1.6-1.7 billion won.

Well, Kim spent six seasons in turkey before moving to shanghai for a year. Her salary here was more or less the similar to last year, around 2 billion won.

Her next move was to Turkey’s Exashibashi Vitra in 2017, where the annual salary was 1.3 million euros, still the highest among volleyball players.

Apart from that, it offered her a luxurious apartment in the center of Istanbul.

For the 2020-2021 season, she returned to Pink spiders on a contract that is worth only 350 million won. However, despite this being a whopping 80% lower than her last salary, Kim had her reasons to return.

In 2016, FIVB Athlete’s Commission selected her as a member.

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Kim Yeon-Koung Net Worth: House and Cars

Over the years, Kim has made a home in different places globally and transferred to different volleyball teams.

In Korea, she owns an apartment located in Suwon, Gyeonggi-do. The apartment spans around 150 sq. meters and has four bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a kitchen. The sale price for this luxurious apartment is 900 million won.

Kim has had contracts with many different car brands over the years, so the car she drives keeps changing.

Likewise, Kim has owned cars like the Volvo XC90, of which she was the brand ambassador. She also has owned a Cadillac Escalade.

Kim Yeon-Koung Net Worth: Endorsements

With such skills and success, Kim might be the most popular player in Korea currently. As a result, many Korean brands have collaborated with her till now.

Kim has worked with some brands, including pounding chicken, Barilla Pasta, hi mart, Mizuno Volleyball Shoes, SEP cosmetics, Nivea, UA Rush, FSN, World Con, Under Armour Korea, etc. 

She has also worked as the brand ambassador of many reputed organizations. In 2013, she was the Honorary Ambassador for Korea tourism.

In 2018, she was The Seoul Hospital Ambassador ad Land Rover All-New discovery Ambassador. Similarly, in 2019, she was Volvo XC90 Ambassador.

Likewise, Kim has frequently appeared in many magazines, such as Sports 2.0, volleyball, the spike, magazine S, etc.

With the rise of social media, athletes are getting numerous opportunities to endorse major brands via their online platforms. Kim has also endorsed Vaseline Korea, Ling Tea, Cadillac, Herba Life to her followers.

Kim Yeon-Koung Net Worth: Business and Investments

We can not tell if Bread Unnie has secretly invested in businesses, but it is the most likely. As most athletes are known to have investments in various sectors, Kim also might have done so.

Kim Yeon-Koung is extremely popular in her home country Korea and also in Turkey. The skyrocketing figures in her Instagram and her youtube are proof of that.

Moreover, since she has built a brand around herself, it gives her more opportunities to profit from it.

The legendary player owns a sports academy in Korea where kids can learn volleyball, football, and basketball.

Recently she launched a funky ‘Bread Uniie’ Merchandise that consisted of graphic t-shirts. The launch was promoted with a thematic photoshoot by Kim herself. The limited-edition merch sold like hotcakes among her fans.

A few years back, she had launched another series of limited edition shirts with MIZUNO featuring her number 10.

What is more, Kim has also published a book called ‘It’s not the end.’

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Kim Yeon-Koung Net Worth: Charity

In 2009, after moving to JT, she collaborated with IIju Academic and cultural foundation to establish volleyball scholarships. This scholarship is provided annually to 6 young volleyball players who are facing financial difficulties.

Moreover, the scholarship amount is 200k won per month.

During the great east Japan Earthquake of 2011, the kind-hearted athlete donated 10 million won so that the affected areas could recover soon.

In 2019, Kim collaborated with Under Armor Korea to donate sportswear, shoes, and bag to volleyball players in Daejeon Wonmyeong School.

She also donated the consolation money paid by the Korean volleyball association after the Asian qualifiers for the Tokyo Olympics to school volleyball teams.

During the coronavirus pandemic, she donated 50 million won to the Hope Bridge National disaster relief association.

Kim Yeon-Koung Net Worth: Career Summary

Kim started playing in 4th grade, following the footsteps of her sister, who also played volleyball. Due to her excellent performance at the high school level, she got the attention of Korean media, resulting in being selected in the national team in 2005. 

During her international debut at the world grand champions cup, she ranked as the 3rd best scorer.

In the 2005 draft, she was the first choice of Heungkunk life. Yeon had a wonderful first year as a pro where she helped Heungkuk become champions and earned every available award.

In the following years, she won the volleyball regular league championship three times and combined championships two times in a row with the pink spiders.

Subsequently, in 2011, she moved to the Turkish sports club Fenerbahçe where she spent six more seasons and continued to become the best scorer. 

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Kim Yeon-Koung: Social media

She has a popular youtube channel called bread Unnie which is passionately followed by many Korean fans. Despite being opened just in 2019, the youtube has gathered a lot of popularity among Korean fans. 

Her vlog-style videos are updated once or twice a month and garner hundreds of thousands of views. She even received a silver play button from youtube in the late 2019.

Instagram: 821k followers

Youtube: 628k followers

Twitter: 79.5k followers

Facebook: 10k followers

Kim Yeon-Koung: Interesting Facts

At 6 feet 2 inches, Kim is the tallest volleyball player in Korea. During middle school, she was less than 5’7”, which made her consider quitting volleyball. However, she grew significantly during her high school years and continued to grow during her professional years. She thanks bean sprouts and genetics for her tallness.She knows multiple languages besides her native Korean; however, she is not very good at them. After spending time in Japan and Turkey, she has learned a little bit of both languages. She even swears in Turkish! Kim is also learning Chinese.Kim is not just a volleyball player but an overall lover of sports. She is a diehard fan of soccer. Her favorite players are Didier Drogba and Sergio Ramos.

Quotes

“The one thing I want to accomplish more than anything else is to win an Olympic medal.” “The most important thing I have learned over the years is professionalism.” “As it is difficult for other Korean national team members to acquire information on players from foreign countries, my role as the leader of the team is to deliver as much informationas as possible to the other Korean team members.”

Kim Yeon-Koung: Frequently Asked Questions

Does Kim Yeon-Koung have tattoos?

Yes, Kim has six tattoos so far, including a small one of coordinates of her birthplace. This particular one is engraved in a small place between her right knee and ankle.

Does Kim Yeon-Koung have Olympics Medal?

Despite winning several other medals, Kim has missed out on having any Olympic Wins. However, she has mentioned that she wants it eagerly and is her number one priority.

It was also one of the main reasons why she returned to Korea in 2020. Meanwhile, Kim is looking forward to getting the gold in Tokyo Olympics.