Lee Woon-jae
Lee Woon-jae (Korean: 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 one of only two Asian players to be nominated for the IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper of the 21st Century (2001–2011) with Mark Schwarzer.[3]
 Woon-jae with Suwon Samsung Bluewings in 2009 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Lee Woon-jae | ||
| Date of birth | 26 April 1973 | ||
| Place of birth | Cheongju, Chungbuk, South Korea | ||
| Height | 1.82 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in) | ||
| Playing position(s) | Goalkeeper | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1994–1995 | Kyung Hee University | ||
| 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 | |||
| 1994–1996 | South Korea U23 | 16[lower-alpha 1] | (0) |
| 2002 | South Korea U23 (WC) | 9 | (0) |
| 1993[1] | South Korea Universiade | ||
| 1993 | South Korea B | ||
| 1994–2010 | South Korea | 133 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only | |||
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| Lee Woon-jae | |
| Hangul | 이운재 |
|---|---|
| Hanja | 李雲在 |
| Revised Romanization | I Un-jae |
| McCune–Reischauer | I Unjae |
Club career
Lee Woon-jae is regarded as one of the greatest South Korean goalkeepers of all time. He didn't have height and rapid pace, but he was stable tendency by having great judgment ability and harmony with defenders. He also noted for his prediction ability and this advantage made him strong on penalty shoot-out. Lee's winning rate about penalty shoot-out was 91.7% (11 wins and 1 loss) and save rate was 44.8% (58 times and 26 saves) in the K League. His nickname was "Spider Hand" in South Korea. Lee moved to Suwon Samsung Bluewings from Kyung Hee University in 1996. He spent Suwon's prime with Kim Ho and Cha Bum-kun, his managers. He won 17 trophies, including one Asian Club Championship and four K Leagues. He played for Jeonnam Dragons lastly.
International career
Source:[6]
Lee was a part of the South Korea squad for the 1994 FIFA World Cup and was substituted into the game against Germany after starting goalkeeper Choi In-young. After the 1994 World Cup, he suffered from tuberculosis and hepatitis which made the crisis to finish his player life. Since 1998, he recovered his health and came back to the national team for the first time in four years.
Lee was selected in Guus Hiddink's squad as the first-choice goalkeeper ahead of Kim Byung-ji, his rival goalkeeper, for the 2002 FIFA World Cup. He appeared all seven matches and achieved three clean sheets against Poland, Portugal and Spain in the tournament.
He made South Korean football history against Spain in the quarter-final, which ended in a draw and went to penalties. Lee blocked Spain's fourth shot, taken by Joaquín and South Korea defeated Spain 5–3 in the shoot-out, becoming the first Asian team ever to advance to the World Cup semi-finals.[7][8] South Korea finished fourth place in the tournament.
Lee captained the side at the 2007 AFC Asian Cup in place of the injured Kim Nam-il. He saved a total of three shootout penalties during the tournament, two against Iran and one against Japan (they would win both matches and finish third overall).
He was selected as one of the All-Star XI, but he was suspended from the national team for a year because he sneaked out from his hotel room and went on a drinking binge in an Indonesian bar along with South Korean teammates Kim Sang-sik, Woo Sung-yong and Lee Dong-gook before the match against Bahrain.
Lee is one of two players (the other being Rigobert Song of Cameroon) to be selected for the 2010 FIFA World Cup that were also selected for the 1994 FIFA World Cup. 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, subsequently retiring from international football.
Career statistics
Club
| Club | Season | League | National Cup | League Cup | Continental | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Suwon Samsung Bluewings | 1996 | K League | 12 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 13 | 0 | |||
| 1997 | K League | 7 | 0 | 10 | 0 | — | 17 | 0 | ||||
| 1998 | K League | 18 | 0 | 16 | 0 | — | 34 | 0 | ||||
| 1999 | K League | 27 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | — | 39 | 0 | ||
| 2002 | K League | 19 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 0 | |||
| 2003 | K League | 41 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 42 | 0 | |||
| 2004 | K League | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | 26 | 0 | ||
| 2005 | K League | 17 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 35 | 0 | |
| 2006 | K League | 13 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 15 | 0 | ||
| 2007 | K League | 25 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 0 | — | 36 | 0 | ||
| 2008 | K League | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 | — | 39 | 0 | ||
| 2009 | K League | 25 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 36 | 0 | |
| 2010 | K League | 12 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 23 | 0 | |
| Total | 267 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 76 | 0 | 18 | 0 | 378 | 0 | ||
| Sangmu FC (draft) | 2000 | Semi-pro League | — | |||||||||
| 2001 | Semi-pro League | — | ||||||||||
| Total | — | |||||||||||
| Jeonnam Dragons | 2011 | K League | 30 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | — | 36 | 0 | |
| 2012 | K League | 33 | 0 | — | — | 33 | 0 | |||||
| Total | 63 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | — | 69 | 0 | |||
| Career total | 330 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 80 | 0 | 18 | 0 | 447 | 0 | ||
International
Source:[9]
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Korea U23 | 1994 | 1 | 0 |
| 1995 | 11 | 0 | |
| 1996 | 4 | 0 | |
| 2002 | 9 | 0 | |
| Total | 25[lower-alpha 1] | 0 | |
| South Korea | 1994 | 3 | 0 |
| 1995 | 1 | 0 | |
| 1996 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1997 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1998 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1999 | 2 | 0 | |
| 2000 | 8 | 0 | |
| 2001 | 12 | 0 | |
| 2002 | 15 | 0 | |
| 2003 | 14 | 0 | |
| 2004 | 15 | 0 | |
| 2005 | 15 | 0 | |
| 2006 | 16 | 0 | |
| 2007 | 8 | 0 | |
| 2008 | 2 | 0 | |
| 2009 | 13 | 0 | |
| 2010 | 9 | 0 | |
| Total | 133 | 0 | |
| Career total | 158 | 0 | |
- Does not include seven appearances against club teams
International clean sheets
- Results list South Korea's goal tally first.
| # | Date | Venue | Opponent | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 11 June 1994 | Duncanville | .svg.png){kind=small} | 3–0 | Friendly |
| 2 | 15 June 1999 | Seoul |  | 0–0 | 1999 Korea Cup |
| 3 | 23 January 2000 | Palmerston |  | 0–0 | Friendly |
| 4 | 19 October 2000 | Tripoli |  | 3–0 | 2000 AFC Asian Cup |
| 5 | 29 October 2000 | Beirut |  | 1–0 | 2000 AFC Asian Cup |
| 6 | 24 April 2001 | Cairo |  | 1–0 | 2001 LG Cup |
| 7 | 25 May 2001 | Suwon |  | 0–0 | Friendly |
| 8 | 3 June 2001 | Suwon | .svg.png){kind=small} | 1–0 | 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup |
| 9 | 10 November 2001 | Seoul |  | 2–0 | Friendly |
| 10 | 27 January 2002 | Pasadena |  | 0–0 (4–2 PSO) | 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup |
| 11 | 20 March 2002 | Cartagena |  | 2–0 | Friendly |
| 12 | 27 April 2002 | Incheon | | 0–0 | Friendly |
| 13 | 4 June 2002 | Busan |  | 2–0 | 2002 FIFA World Cup |
| 14 | 14 June 2002 | Incheon |  | 1–0 | 2002 FIFA World Cup |
| 15 | 22 June 2002 | Gwangju |  | 0–0 (5–3 PSO) | 2002 FIFA World Cup |
| 16 | 27 March 2003 | Busan |  | 0–0 | Friendly |
| 17 | 31 May 2003 | Tokyo |  | 1–0 | Friendly |
| 18 | 25 September 2003 | Incheon |  | 5–0 | 2004 AFC Asian Cup qualification |
| 19 | 27 September 2003 | Incheon |  | 1–0 | 2004 AFC Asian Cup qualification |
| 20 | 24 October 2003 | Muscat |  | 7–0 | 2004 AFC Asian Cup qualification |
| 21 | 8 December 2003 | Saitama | | 1–0 | 2003 East Asian Football Championship |
| 22 | 12 December 2003 | Yokohama | | 0–0 | 2003 East Asian Football Championship |
| 23 | 18 February 2004 | Suwon |  | 2–0 | 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 24 | 31 March 2004 | Malé |  | 0–0 | 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 25 | 28 April 2004 | Incheon |  | 0–0 | Friendly |
| 26 | 9 June 2004 | Daejeon | | 2–0 | 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 27 | 10 July 2004 | Gwangju |  | 2–0 | Friendly |
| 28 | 19 July 2004 | Jinan |  | 0–0 | 2004 AFC Asian Cup |
| 29 | 23 July 2004 | Jinan |  | 2–0 | 2004 AFC Asian Cup |
| 30 | 27 July 2004 | Jinan |  | 4–0 | 2004 AFC Asian Cup |
| 31 | 17 November 2004 | Seoul | | 2–0 | 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 32 | 9 February 2005 | Seoul | | 2–0 | 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 33 | 8 June 2005 | Kuwait City | | 4–0 | 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 34 | 4 August 2005 | Jeonju |  | 0–0 | 2005 East Asian Football Championship |
| 35 | 12 October 2005 | Seoul | | 2–0 | Friendly |
| 36 | 16 November 2005 | Seoul | %3B_Flag_of_Serbia_and_Montenegro_(2003%E2%80%932006).svg.png){kind=small} | 2–0 | Friendly |
| 37 | 25 January 2006 | Riyadh | | 1–0 | 2006 LG Cup |
| 38 | 29 January 2006 | Hong Kong | | 2–0 | 2006 Lunar New Year Cup |
| 39 | 15 February 2006 | Los Angeles | | 1–0 | Friendly |
| 40 | 1 March 2006 | Seoul |  | 1–0 | Friendly |
| 41 | 26 May 2006 | Seoul |  | 2–0 | Friendly |
| 42 | 1 June 2006 | Oslo |  | 0–0 | Friendly |
| 43 | 6 September 2006 | Suwon | .svg.png){kind=small} | 8–0 | 2007 AFC Asian Cup qualification |
| 44 | 18 July 2007 | Jakarta | | 1–0 | 2007 AFC Asian Cup |
| 45 | 22 July 2007 | Kuala Lumpur | | 0–0 (4–2 PSO) | 2007 AFC Asian Cup |
| 46 | 25 July 2007 | Kuala Lumpur |  | 0–0 (3–4 PSO) | 2007 AFC Asian Cup |
| 47 | 28 July 2007 | Palembang | | 0–0 (6–5 PSO) | 2007 AFC Asian Cup |
| 48 | 19 November 2008 | Riyadh |  | 2–0 | 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 49 | 1 April 2009 | Seoul | | 1–0 | 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 50 | 6 June 2009 | Dubai | | 2–0 | 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 51 | 10 June 2009 | Seoul | | 0–0 | 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 52 | 12 August 2009 | Seoul | | 1–0 | Friendly |
| 53 | 14 October 2009 | Seoul |  | 2–0 | Friendly |
| 54 | 14 November 2009 | Esbjerg |  | 0–0 | Friendly |
| 55 | 18 January 2010 | Málaga | | 2–0 | Friendly |
| 56 | 7 February 2010 | Tokyo |  | 5–0 | 2010 East Asian Football Championship |
| 57 | 3 March 2010 | London |  | 2–0 | Friendly |
Honours
Suwon Samsung Bluewings
- K League 1: 1998, 1999, 2004, 2008
- Korean FA Cup: 2002, 2009, 2010
- Korean League Cup: 1999, 1999s, 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
South Korea U23
- Asian Games bronze medal: 2002
South Korea Universiade
- Summer Universiade silver medal: 1993
South Korea B
South Korea
- FIFA World Cup fourth place: 2002
- AFC Asian Cup third place: 2000, 2007
- EAFF Championship: 2003
Individual
- K League 1 Best XI: 1999, 2002, 2004, 2008[10][11][12][13]
- EAFF Championship Best Goalkeeper: 2005[14]
- AFC Asian Cup Team of the Tournament: 2007[15]
- K League 1 Most Valuable Player: 2008[13]
- Korean FA Cup Most Valuable Player: 2009[16]
See also
- List of South Korean footballers
- South Korea national football team
- List of Koreans
- List of Korea-related topics
References
- "FOOTBALL". Universiade '93-Buffalo -Results-. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
- 동아시아축구 대표 확정. Naver.com (in Korean). The Hankyoreh. 30 March 1993. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
- "The World's best Goalkeeper of the 21st Century". IFFHS.de. IFFHS. Archived from the original on 8 February 2012. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
- [집중분석] 이운재는 왜 승부차기에 강할까? (in Korean). Maeil Business Newspaper. 15 July 2010.
- [스포츠 화제] ‘국대 골키퍼의 대명사’ 김병지-이운재 20년 우정 (in Korean). Joongang Sisa Magazine. 17 August 2016.
- 가난과 폐결핵·간염 극복…그는 불굴의 거미손이었다 (in Korean). Ilyoseoul. 27 June 2006.
- "Korean dream lives on". BBC Sport. 22 June 2002. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
- Hayward, Paul (23 June 2002). "Korean miracle spoilt by refereeing farce". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
- 이운재 LEE Woonjae GK (in Korean). KFA. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
- 안정환 시즌 MVP (in Korean). Dong-A Ilbo. 10 November 1999.
- 2002년 K-리그 시상식 21일 개최 (in Korean). Yonhap. 20 December 2002.
- 나드손, 외국인 첫 MVP! (in Korean). YTN. 16 December 2004.
- 이운재, MVP 영예...신인상은 이승렬, 감독상은 차범근 감독 (in Korean). Sports Chosun. 9 December 2008.
- 동아시아컵축구 이운재 최우수 골키퍼상 (in Korean). Yonhap. 7 August 2005.
- "Official All-Star XI". BigSoccer Forum. 18 August 2007.
- 수원, 7년 만의 FA컵 우승…MVP 이운재 (in Korean). Maeil Business Newspaper. 9 November 2009.
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lee Woon-Jae. |
- Lee Woon-jae – K League stats at kleague.com (in Korean)
- Lee Woon-jae – National Team Stats at KFA (in Korean)
- Lee Woon-jae – FIFA competition record
- Lee Woon-jae at National-Football-Teams.com
- International Appearances & Goals
- Naver Sports Record (in Korean)
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Hong Myung-bo |
South Korea captain 2002–2008 |
Succeeded by Park Ji-sung |
| Preceded by Yeom Dong-gyun |
Jeonnam Dragons captain 2011–2012 |
Succeeded by Lee Seung-hee |
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