Lee Woon-jae facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Lee Woon-jae

Lee with Suwon Samsung Bluewings in 2009
Personal information
Full name	Lee Woon-jae
Date of birth	(1973-04-26) 26 April 1973 (age 50)
Place of birth	Cheongju, Chungbuk, South Korea
Height	1.82 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Youth career
1986–1988	Cheongju Daeseong Middle School
1989–1991	Cheongju Commercial High School [ko]
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1996–2010	Suwon Samsung Bluewings	267	(0)
2000–2001	→ Sangmu FC (draft)
2011–2012	Jeonnam Dragons	63	(0)
Total		330	(0)
National team
1994–2002	South Korea U23	32	(0)
1993	South Korea B
1994–2010	South Korea	133	(0)
Honours Representing  South Korea Men's football Summer Universiade Silver 1993 Buffalo Team AFC Asian Cup Bronze 2000 Lebanon Team Bronze 2007 Indonesia/Malaysia /Thailand/Vietnam Team Asian Games Bronze 2002 Busan Team EAFF Championship Gold 2003 Japan Team Silver 2010 Japan Team East Asian Games Gold 1993 Shanghai Team
Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Lee Woon-jae (Hangul: 이운재; born 26 April 1973) is a South Korean former football goalkeeper. He was part of South Korea's 1994, 2002, 2006 and 2010 FIFA World Cup campaigns. He was the only Asian player nominated for the IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper of the 21st Century (2001–2011).

International career

Lee was a part of the South Korean national team for the 1994 FIFA World Cup. He was substituted into the game against Germany for main goalkeeper Choi In-young and did not concede a goal in 45 minutes. After the 1994 World Cup, he suffered from tuberculosis and hepatitis and worried that his playing career might end. Luckily, he made a recovery and came back to the national team in 1998.

Lee was selected for Guus Hiddink's squad for the 2002 FIFA World Cup as the first-choice goalkeeper after the rivalry against Kim Byung-ji. He appeared all of seven matches until the third place play-off, and kept three clean sheets against Poland, Portugal and Spain in the tournament. He made the history of South Korean football in the quarter-finals against Spain. After the match was ended without a goal until extra time, Lee blocked Spain's fourth shot taken by Joaquín in the penalty shoot-out. South Korea defeated Spain 5–3 on penalties, becoming the first-ever Asian team to advance to the semi-finals in the World Cup. South Korea finished fourth place in the tournament.

Lee captained South Korea at the 2007 AFC Asian Cup in place of the injured Kim Nam-il. He kept clean sheets in all of South Korea's games in the knockout stage and saved a total of three penalties in shoot-outs (two against Iran and one against Japan). He was selected as the goalkeeper of the All-Star XI. However, he was suspended from the national team for a year.

Lee is one of two players (the other being Rigobert Song of Cameroon) to be selected for four World Cups from 1994 to 2010. He is one of seven players from Asia to play in four different World Cups. He played his last game for the national team in a friendly against Nigeria on 11 August 2010 in a 2–1 victory and subsequently retired from international football.

Style of play

Nicknamed the "Spider Hand" in South Korea, Lee is regarded as one of the greatest South Korean goalkeepers of all time. He didn't have good height and rapid pace, but showed great judgment and the harmonies with defenders. He was also noted for his predictive ability and this made him strong on the penalty shoot-out. In shoot-outs of the K League, he won 92% of matches (11 out of 12) and saved 45% of shots. (26 out of 58)

Career statistics

Club

International

Filmography

Television

Honours

Suwon Samsung Bluewings

• K League 1: 1998, 1999, 2004, 2008
• Korean FA Cup: 2002, 2009, 2010
• Korean League Cup: 1999, 1999+, 2005, 2008
• Korean Super Cup: 1999, 2005
• Asian Club Championship: 2001–02
• Asian Super Cup: 2002
• A3 Champions Cup: 2005
• Pan-Pacific Championship: 2009

Sangmu FC

• Korean Semi-professional Championship: 2001

South Korea U23

• Asian Games bronze medal: 2002

South Korea B

• Summer Universiade silver medal: 1993
• East Asian Games: 1993

South Korea

• AFC Asian Cup third place: 2000, 2007
• EAFF Championship: 2003

Individual

• K League 1 Best XI: 1999, 2002, 2004, 2008
• EAFF Championship Best Goalkeeper: 2005
• AFC Asian Cup Team of the Tournament: 2007
• K League 1 Most Valuable Player: 2008
• Korean FA Cup Most Valuable Player: 2009
• AFC Opta All-time XI at the FIFA World Cup: 2020

See also

In Spanish: Lee Woon-jae para niños

• List of men's footballers with 100 or more international caps