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]

This is a Korean name; the family name is Lee.

Lee Woon-jae
이운재

Woon-jae with Suwon Samsung Bluewings in 2009
Personal information
Full name	Lee Woon-jae
Date of birth	(1973-04-26) 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)
Honours Representing  South Korea Men's football AFC Asian Cup 2000 Lebanon Team 2007 Indonesia/Malaysia /Thailand/Vietnam Team EAFF Championship 2003 Japan Team 2010 Japan Team East Asian Games 1993 Shanghai Team[2] Summer Universiade 1993 Buffalo Team[1] Asian Games 2002 Busan Team
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Lee Woon-jae
Hangul	이운재
Hanja	李雲在
Revised Romanization	I Un-jae
McCune–Reischauer	I Unjae

Club career

Source:[4][5]

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

1. 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	Honduras	3–0	Friendly
2	15 June 1999	Seoul	Egypt	0–0	1999 Korea Cup
3	23 January 2000	Palmerston	New Zealand	0–0	Friendly
4	19 October 2000	Tripoli	Indonesia	3–0	2000 AFC Asian Cup
5	29 October 2000	Beirut	China PR	1–0	2000 AFC Asian Cup
6	24 April 2001	Cairo	Iran	1–0	2001 LG Cup
7	25 May 2001	Suwon	Cameroon	0–0	Friendly
8	3 June 2001	Suwon	Australia	1–0	2001 FIFA Confederations Cup
9	10 November 2001	Seoul	Croatia	2–0	Friendly
10	27 January 2002	Pasadena	Mexico	0–0 (4–2 PSO)	2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup
11	20 March 2002	Cartagena	Finland	2–0	Friendly
12	27 April 2002	Incheon	China PR	0–0	Friendly
13	4 June 2002	Busan	Poland	2–0	2002 FIFA World Cup
14	14 June 2002	Incheon	Portugal	1–0	2002 FIFA World Cup
15	22 June 2002	Gwangju	Spain	0–0 (5–3 PSO)	2002 FIFA World Cup
16	27 March 2003	Busan	Colombia	0–0	Friendly
17	31 May 2003	Tokyo	Japan	1–0	Friendly
18	25 September 2003	Incheon	Vietnam	5–0	2004 AFC Asian Cup qualification
19	27 September 2003	Incheon	Oman	1–0	2004 AFC Asian Cup qualification
20	24 October 2003	Muscat	Nepal	7–0	2004 AFC Asian Cup qualification
21	8 December 2003	Saitama	China PR	1–0	2003 East Asian Football Championship
22	12 December 2003	Yokohama	Japan	0–0	2003 East Asian Football Championship
23	18 February 2004	Suwon	Lebanon	2–0	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
24	31 March 2004	Malé	Maldives	0–0	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
25	28 April 2004	Incheon	Paraguay	0–0	Friendly
26	9 June 2004	Daejeon	Vietnam	2–0	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
27	10 July 2004	Gwangju	Bahrain	2–0	Friendly
28	19 July 2004	Jinan	Jordan	0–0	2004 AFC Asian Cup
29	23 July 2004	Jinan	United Arab Emirates	2–0	2004 AFC Asian Cup
30	27 July 2004	Jinan	Kuwait	4–0	2004 AFC Asian Cup
31	17 November 2004	Seoul	Maldives	2–0	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
32	9 February 2005	Seoul	Kuwait	2–0	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
33	8 June 2005	Kuwait City	Kuwait	4–0	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
34	4 August 2005	Jeonju	North Korea	0–0	2005 East Asian Football Championship
35	12 October 2005	Seoul	Iran	2–0	Friendly
36	16 November 2005	Seoul	Serbia and Montenegro	2–0	Friendly
37	25 January 2006	Riyadh	Finland	1–0	2006 LG Cup
38	29 January 2006	Hong Kong	Croatia	2–0	2006 Lunar New Year Cup
39	15 February 2006	Los Angeles	Mexico	1–0	Friendly
40	1 March 2006	Seoul	Angola	1–0	Friendly
41	26 May 2006	Seoul	Bosnia and Herzegovina	2–0	Friendly
42	1 June 2006	Oslo	Norway	0–0	Friendly
43	6 September 2006	Suwon	Chinese Taipei	8–0	2007 AFC Asian Cup qualification
44	18 July 2007	Jakarta	Indonesia	1–0	2007 AFC Asian Cup
45	22 July 2007	Kuala Lumpur	Iran	0–0 (4–2 PSO)	2007 AFC Asian Cup
46	25 July 2007	Kuala Lumpur	Iraq	0–0 (3–4 PSO)	2007 AFC Asian Cup
47	28 July 2007	Palembang	Japan	0–0 (6–5 PSO)	2007 AFC Asian Cup
48	19 November 2008	Riyadh	Saudi Arabia	2–0	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
49	1 April 2009	Seoul	North Korea	1–0	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
50	6 June 2009	Dubai	United Arab Emirates	2–0	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
51	10 June 2009	Seoul	Saudi Arabia	0–0	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
52	12 August 2009	Seoul	Paraguay	1–0	Friendly
53	14 October 2009	Seoul	Senegal	2–0	Friendly
54	14 November 2009	Esbjerg	Denmark	0–0	Friendly
55	18 January 2010	Málaga	Finland	2–0	Friendly
56	7 February 2010	Tokyo	Hong Kong	5–0	2010 East Asian Football Championship
57	3 March 2010	London	Ivory Coast	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

• Korean Semi-professional Championship: 2001

South Korea U23

• Asian Games bronze medal: 2002

South Korea Universiade

• Summer Universiade silver medal: 1993

South Korea B

• East Asian Games: 1993

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

1. "FOOTBALL". Universiade '93-Buffalo -Results-. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
2. 동아시아축구 대표 확정. Naver.com (in Korean). The Hankyoreh. 30 March 1993. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
3. "The World's best Goalkeeper of the 21st Century". IFFHS.de. IFFHS. Archived from the original on 8 February 2012. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
4. [집중분석] 이운재는 왜 승부차기에 강할까? (in Korean). Maeil Business Newspaper. 15 July 2010.
5. [스포츠 화제] ‘국대 골키퍼의 대명사’ 김병지-이운재 20년 우정 (in Korean). Joongang Sisa Magazine. 17 August 2016.
6. 가난과 폐결핵·간염 극복…그는 불굴의 거미손이었다 (in Korean). Ilyoseoul. 27 June 2006.
7. "Korean dream lives on". BBC Sport. 22 June 2002. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
8. Hayward, Paul (23 June 2002). "Korean miracle spoilt by refereeing farce". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
9. 이운재 LEE Woonjae GK (in Korean). KFA. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
10. 안정환 시즌 MVP (in Korean). Dong-A Ilbo. 10 November 1999.
11. 2002년 K-리그 시상식 21일 개최 (in Korean). Yonhap. 20 December 2002.
12. 나드손, 외국인 첫 MVP! (in Korean). YTN. 16 December 2004.
13. 이운재, MVP 영예...신인상은 이승렬, 감독상은 차범근 감독 (in Korean). Sports Chosun. 9 December 2008.
14. 동아시아컵축구 이운재 최우수 골키퍼상 (in Korean). Yonhap. 7 August 2005.
15. "Official All-Star XI". BigSoccer Forum. 18 August 2007.
16. 수원, 7년 만의 FA컵 우승…MVP 이운재 (in Korean). Maeil Business Newspaper. 9 November 2009.

External links

• 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