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Lee Jung-soo
Hangul	이정수
Hanja	李正秀
Revised Romanization	I Jeong-su
McCune–Reischauer	I Chŏngsu

Lee Jung-soo
	Lee with Al-Sadd in 2011
Personal information
Full name	Lee Jung-soo
Date of birth	8 January 1980 (age 45)
Place of birth	Gimhae, Gyeongnam, South Korea
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s)	Centre-back
College career
Years	Team
1998–2001	Kyung Hee University
Senior career*
Years	Team
2002–2004	FC Seoul
2004–2005	Incheon United
2006–2008	Suwon Samsung Bluewings
2009	Kyoto Sanga
2010	Kashima Antlers
2010–2015	Al-Sadd
2016–2017	Suwon Samsung Bluewings
2018	Charlotte Independence
Total
International career‡
1998	South Korea U20
2001	South Korea B
2008–2013	South Korea
Medal record
Representing South Korea
Men's football
AFC Asian Cup
AFC Youth Championship
EAFF Championship
East Asian Games
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 15 October 2018; ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 6 February 2013

Lee Jung-soo (Korean: 이정수; born 8 January 1980) is a South Korean former professional footballer who played as a centre-back.

Club career

Career in South Korea

After graduating from Kyung Hee University in 2002, Lee started his professional career at a K League club Anyang LG Cheetahs. (renamed FC Seoul since 2004) He was originally a forward, but Anyang's manager Cho Kwang-rae advised him to change his role to a defender.^[2] He played for Anyang LG Cheetahs/FC Seoul, Incheon United, and Suwon Samsung Bluewings as a defender in the K League, and won a league title with Suwon in 2008.

Career in Japan

In 2009, Lee joined J1 League side Kyoto Sanga FC. He scored five goals in the 2009 season, showing his scoring ability. Lee also participated in the Jomo Cup, contested between K League and J.League all-star team, and was named the MVP of the game. Lee joined another J1 League club Kashima Antlers the next year, playing for it for half a year. He transferred to a Qatari club Al-Sadd after the 2010 FIFA World Cup.^[3]

Al-Sadd

In the 2011 AFC Champions League semi-final first leg against his former club Suwon, Lee was involved in a heated argument with Al-Sadd teammates following Mamadou Niang's controversial second goal, which was scored after Suwon claimed to have put the ball out to allow treatment to injured players, thus inferring possession should have been returned to the Korean club. Lee said that the goal was "unfair" and suggested Al-Sadd should give a goal back although the idea was rejected. The situation prompted Lee to walk off the pitch requiring his manager Jorge Fossati to substitute him with Ibrahim Majid for the remainder of additional time.^[4]

Al-Sadd won the AFC Champions League final against Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors on penalties. Lee was chosen to take a penalty but his shot hit the crossbar, making him the only Al-Sadd player to miss in the penalty shootout.^[5]

In June 2012, a Chinese club Guangzhou Evergrande confirmed their interest in signing Lee and, according to the Jinghua Times, claimed that they signed him following his contract rejection from Al-Sadd.^[6] However, Lee rejected the Guangzhou's offer and signed a one-year extension with Al-Sadd.^[7]

Retirement

In the 2015–16 season, Lee suffered hand and calf injury, and Al-Sadd showed a poor defence due to his absence. His team needed a new centre-back to replace him, and offered him a job as a coach instead. However, he wanted to continue his playing career, courteously declining it.^[8] After leaving Al-Sadd in January 2016, he rejoined Suwon the next month, and announced his retirement the next year.

In February 2018, Lee joined Charlotte Independence of the United Soccer League unexpectedly.^[9] He started his coaching career after playing for Charlotte for a while.

International career

Lee was one of South Korea's major contributors when his country reached the knockout stage in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. He largely helped South Korea's attack by scoring two set-piece goals in the group stage.

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition^[10]
Club	Season	League			National Cup		League Cup		Continental		Other		Total
Club	Season	Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
FC Seoul	2002	K League	9	1	0	0	2	0	?	?	—		11	1
	2003	K League	18	1	1	0	—		—		—		19	1
	2004	K League	2	0	0	0	0	0	—		—		2	0
	Total		29	2	1	0	2	0	?	?	—		32	2
Incheon United	2004	K League	11	0	1	0	9	0	—		—		21	0
	2005	K League	9	1	0	0	8	0	—		—		17	1
	Total		20	1	1	0	17	0	—		—		38	1
Suwon Samsung Bluewings	2006	K League	23	2	2	0	13	0	—		—		38	2
	2007	K League	6	0	0	0	4	0	—		—		10	0
	2008	K League	17	1	1	0	7	0	—		—		25	1
	Total		46	3	3	0	24	0	—		—		73	3
Kyoto Sanga	2009	J1 League	32	5	?	?	1	0	—		—		33	5
Kashima Antlers	2010	J1 League	10	3	?	?	0	0	5	1	1^[a]	0	16	4
Al-Sadd	2010–11	Qatar Stars League	19	2	?	?	?	?	5	2	—		24	4
	2011–12	Qatar Stars League	15	1	?	?	?	?	7	0	3^[b]	0	25	1
	2012–13	Qatar Stars League	21	2	?	?	?	?	—		?	?	21	2
	2013–14	Qatar Stars League	22	2	?	?	4^[c]	0	8	0	?	?	34	2
	2014–15	Qatar Stars League	24	2	?	?	?	?	12	0	?	?	36	2
	2015–16	Qatar Stars League	11	1	?	?	?	?	0	0	—		11	1
	Total		112	10	?	?	4	0	32	2	3	0	151	12
Suwon Samsung Bluewings	2016	K League 1	27	3	4	0	—		0	0	—		31	3
	2017	K League 1	3	0	?	?	—		2	0	—		5	0
	Total		30	3	4	0	—		2	0	—		36	3
Charlotte Independence	2018	United Soccer League	13	0	?	?	—		—		—		13	0
Career total			292	27	9	0	48	0	39	3	4	0	392	30

^ Appearance in Japanese Super Cup
^ Appearances in FIFA Club World Cup
^ Appearances in Qatari Stars Cup

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year^[11]
National team	Year	Apps	Goals
South Korea	2008	5	0
	2009	11	1
	2010	17	3
	2011	14	1
	2012	6	0
	2013	1	0
Career total		54	5

Results list South Korea's goal tally first.

List of international goals scored by Lee Jung-soo
No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	5 September 2009	Seoul, South Korea	Australia	2–0	3–1	Friendly
2	18 January 2010	Málaga, Spain	Finland	2–0	2–0	Friendly
3	12 June 2010	Port Elizabeth, South Africa	Greece	1–0	2–0	2010 FIFA World Cup
4	22 June 2010	Durban, South Africa	Nigeria	1–1	2–2	2010 FIFA World Cup
5	25 March 2011	Seoul, South Korea	Honduras	1–0	4–0	Friendly