NEC Red Rockets of Kawasaki will be making their FIVB Club World Championship debut this year, after qualifying to the event as Asian Club Championship title holders in 2016.
Founded in 1978, the club got promoted to Japan's V.Premier League the very next year and have since won seven national titles - the latest this year when they defeated Hisamitsu Springs Kobe twice in five sets in the final series.
NEC Red Rockets won their first and only Asian Club Championship in 2016, when they shut out China's Bayi Shenzen 3-0 in the final in Binan, the Philippines.