Introduction
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 only two Asian players to be nominated for the IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper of the 21st Century (2001–2011) with Mark Schwarzer.
Club career
Source:
Lee Woon-jae is regarded as one of the greatest South Korean goalkeepers of all time. He hadn't 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 penalty shoot-out winning rate 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:
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. 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:
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Korea U23 | 1994 | 1 | 0 |
| 1995 | 11 | 0 | |
| 1996 | 4 | 0 | |
| 2002 | 9 | 0 | |
| Total | 25 | 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 | |
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
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
- 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
- Best Eleven South Korea All-time Best XI: 2010