Lee Woon-jae


Lee Woon-jae 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 with Mark Schwarzer.

Club career

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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% and save rate was 44.8% 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

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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.
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 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

International

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International clean sheets

#DateVenueOpponentResultCompetition
111 June 1994Duncanville3–0Friendly
215 June 1999Seoul0–01999 Korea Cup
323 January 2000Palmerston0–0Friendly
419 October 2000Tripoli3–02000 AFC Asian Cup
529 October 2000Beirut1–02000 AFC Asian Cup
624 April 2001Cairo1–02001 LG Cup
725 May 2001Suwon0–0Friendly
83 June 2001Suwon1–02001 FIFA Confederations Cup
910 November 2001Seoul2–0Friendly
1027 January 2002Pasadena0–0 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup
1120 March 2002Cartagena2–0Friendly
1227 April 2002Incheon0–0Friendly
134 June 2002Busan2–02002 FIFA World Cup
1414 June 2002Incheon1–02002 FIFA World Cup
1522 June 2002Gwangju0–0 2002 FIFA World Cup
1627 March 2003Busan0–0Friendly
1731 May 2003Tokyo1–0Friendly
1825 September 2003Incheon5–02004 AFC Asian Cup qualification
1927 September 2003Incheon1–02004 AFC Asian Cup qualification
2024 October 2003Muscat7–02004 AFC Asian Cup qualification
218 December 2003Saitama1–02003 East Asian Football Championship
2212 December 2003Yokohama0–02003 East Asian Football Championship
2318 February 2004Suwon2–02006 FIFA World Cup qualification
2431 March 2004Malé0–02006 FIFA World Cup qualification
2528 April 2004Incheon0–0Friendly
269 June 2004Daejeon2–02006 FIFA World Cup qualification
2710 July 2004Gwangju2–0Friendly
2819 July 2004Jinan0–02004 AFC Asian Cup
2923 July 2004Jinan2–02004 AFC Asian Cup
3027 July 2004Jinan4–02004 AFC Asian Cup
3117 November 2004Seoul2–02006 FIFA World Cup qualification
329 February 2005Seoul2–02006 FIFA World Cup qualification
338 June 2005Kuwait City4–02006 FIFA World Cup qualification
344 August 2005Jeonju0–02005 East Asian Football Championship
3512 October 2005Seoul2–0Friendly
3616 November 2005Seoul2–0Friendly
3725 January 2006Riyadh1–02006 LG Cup
3829 January 2006Hong Kong2–02006 Lunar New Year Cup
3915 February 2006Los Angeles1–0Friendly
401 March 2006Seoul1–0Friendly
4126 May 2006Seoul2–0Friendly
421 June 2006Oslo0–0Friendly
436 September 2006Suwon8–02007 AFC Asian Cup qualification
4418 July 2007Jakarta1–02007 AFC Asian Cup
4522 July 2007Kuala Lumpur0–0 2007 AFC Asian Cup
4625 July 2007Kuala Lumpur0–0 2007 AFC Asian Cup
4728 July 2007Palembang0–0 2007 AFC Asian Cup
4819 November 2008Riyadh2–02010 FIFA World Cup qualification
491 April 2009Seoul1–02010 FIFA World Cup qualification
506 June 2009Dubai2–02010 FIFA World Cup qualification
5110 June 2009Seoul0–02010 FIFA World Cup qualification
5212 August 2009Seoul1–0Friendly
5314 October 2009Seoul2–0Friendly
5414 November 2009Esbjerg0–0Friendly
5518 January 2010Málaga2–0Friendly
567 February 2010Tokyo5–02010 East Asian Football Championship
573 March 2010London2–0Friendly

Honours

Suwon Samsung Bluewings
Sangmu FC
South Korea U23
South Korea Universiade
South Korea B
South Korea
Individual