Lee Geum-min (, or ; born 7 April 1994) is a South Korean professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for

Women's Championship The Women's Super League 2, also known as Barclays Women's Super League 2 for sponsorship reasons, is a professional football league in England, operated by WSL Football. It is the second-highest division of women's football in England. The div ...

club

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

and the South Korea women's national team. She has previously played for

Seoul City Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

, Gyeongju KHNP,

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

and

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, commonly referred to as Brighton, is a professional football club based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Their home gr ...

Club career

Seoul WFC

On 4 November 2014, Lee was drafted first overall by

Seoul WFC Seoul City Women's Football Club (), also known as Seoul Amazones or Seoul City Hall, is a South Korean women's football club based in Seoul. The club competes in the WK League, the top division of women's football in South Korea, and plays its ...

. She finished the 2015 season with six goals and two assists in 18 appearances. The following season, she scored nine goals and registered four assists in 18 appearances. In her final season with Seoul, Lee scored eleven goals and had six assists in 21 appearances.

Gyeongju KHNP

In 2018, Lee joined Gyeongju KHNP. On 23 April 2018, she made her debut in a 0–0 draw with

Incheon Hyundai Steel Red Angels The Incheon Hyundai Steel Red Angels Women's Football Club () is a South Korean women's football team based in Incheon. The club was founded in 1993. They are South Korea's most successful club with eleven consecutive WK League titles won from ...

. On 14 May 2018, she scored twice in a 3–0 away victory against

Changnyeong WFC Changnyeong Women's Football Club () is a South Korean women's football team based in Changnyeong County. The team joined the WK League, the top division of women's football in South Korea, in 2018. History Foundation The foundation of a ne ...

. In her final game for Gyeongju KHNP, Lee scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

as her team won 3–0 away at Boeun Sangmu, having previously scored two goals in the previous match, her last at home, a 5–2 win over Suwon UDC.

Manchester City

On 7 August 2019,

announced they had signed Lee on a two-year contract. She made her

Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), also known as the Barclays Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons, and formerly the FA WSL, is a professional association football league and the highest level of women's football in England. Currently oper ...

(WSL) debut on 7 September 2019, coming on as a second-half substitute against

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

at the

Etihad Stadium The City of Manchester Stadium, currently known as Etihad Stadium for sponsorship reasons, and commonly shortened as The Etihad, is the home of Premier League club Manchester City, with a domestic football capacity of 53,600, making it the 7t ...

. The match broke the record attendance for a WSL match at 31,213. Lee made her

UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. ...

debut and first City start in a 7–1 away win against Swiss team

FF Lugano 1976 Football Femminile Lugano 1976 known as FF Lugano 1976 or simply Lugano are a Swiss women's football team from Lugano, Ticino who play domestically in the Frauen Nationalliga A. Since 2015 and through their chairman Emanuele Gaiarin, encourage y ...

on 12 September 2019. She scored her first goal for Manchester City on 12 October 2019, coming on as a late substitute at home to

to seal a 3–0 victory.

Loan to Brighton & Hove Albion

On 24 July 2020, it was announced that Lee had joined WSL team

on loan for the 2020–21 season with head coach

Hope Powell Hope Patricia Powell (born 8 December 1966) is an English football coach and former player who is the Women's Technical Director at Birmingham City. As a player, Powell won 72 caps for England, mainly as an attacking midfielder, scoring 17 goal ...

describing the signing as "a real coup." She made her debut for Brighton in the season opener, a 2–0 home win against Birmingham City on 6 September 2020. Lee made her FA Cup debut on 27 September 2020, starting in Brighton's quarter-final also against Birmingham City. On 7 February 2021, Lee was part of the Brighton team that ended Chelsea's 33-match unbeaten run with a 2–1 victory for the Seagulls. Her first goal for Brighton, a header, came in the away fixture at

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

on 2 May 2021. Her second, a long-range hit, came just a minute later when she intercepted the ball from Reading's kick-off. The strike was described as an contender for WSL goal of the season. Lee then went on to score in Brighton's next fixture, an end-of-season game at home to

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

Brighton & Hove Albion

Lee transferred permanently to Brighton from Manchester City in August 2021. She scored for Albion in their 2021–22 season opener against

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

on 5 September 2021. It was her fourth goal in her last three WSL games, including the final two matches of the previous season.

Birmingham City

In September 2024, Lee joined

club Birmingham City on a two-year permanent deal for an undisclosed fee, subject to league and visa approval.

International career

Lee was a member of the under-16 team that won the

2009 AFC U-16 Women's Championship The AFC U-16 Women's Championship 2009 was the 3rd instance of the AFC U-16 Women's Championship. It was held from 4 to 15 November 2009 in Bangkok, Thailand. The top 3 teams qualified for 2010 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup. Venues Qualificatio ...

and was in the under-17 team that claimed the

FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup is an annual (biennial until 2024) international women's association football tournament for female players under the age of 17. It is organized by ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (FIFA) ...

the following year. She made two appearances at the

2011 AFC U-19 Women's Championship The 2011 AFC U-19 Women's Championship was the 6th edition of the AFC U-19 Women's Championship. Vietnam hosted the tournament from 6 to 16 October 2011. The top 3 teams Japan, North Korea, and China qualified to the 2012 FIFA U-20 Women's World ...

, scoring two goals against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in a 4–2 win. In 2013, she helped South Korea win the

2013 AFC U-19 Women's Championship The AFC U-19 Women's Championship 2013 is the seventh edition of the AFC U-20 Women's Asian Cup, AFC U-19 Women's Championship. It was played from 11 to 20 October 2013. The top three teams (South Korea women's national under-20 football team, Sou ...

and qualify for the

2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The 2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup was an international association football tournament and the world championship for women's national teams under the age of 20, presented by Grant Connell, organized by the sport's world governing body FIFA. I ...

. Lee was selected by South Korea for the

2015 Women's World Cup The 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup was the seventh FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international soccer championship contested by the women's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament was hosted by Canada for the f ...

and the

2019 Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football, football championship contested by 24 List of women's national association football teams, women's ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list South Korea's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Lee goal.''

Honours

South Korea *

AFC U-16 Women's Championship The AFC U-17 Women's Asian Cup, founded as the AFC U-17 Women's Championship and later the AFC U-16 Women's Championship, before changing to its current name after the 2019 edition, is a biennial women's football tournament for youth teams organis ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

AFC U-19 Women's Championship The AFC U-20 Women's Asian Cup is an association football tournament for women's national teams under the age of 20, organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It is organised by the Asian Football Confederation every two years, and serve ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

References

External links

*
Lee Geum-min
at the Korea Football Association (KFA)
Lee Geum-min
at the Korea Women's Football Federation (KWFF) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Geum-min 1994 births Living people South Korean women's footballers South Korea women's youth international footballers South Korea women's under-20 international footballers South Korea women's international footballers Women's association football forwards WK League players Women's Super League players Women's Super League 2 players Manchester City W.F.C. players Brighton & Hove Albion W.F.C. players Birmingham City W.F.C. players 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup players Footballers at the 2018 Asian Games Asian Games bronze medalists for South Korea Asian Games medalists in football Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players South Korean expatriate women's footballers Expatriate women's footballers in England South Korean expatriate sportspeople in England 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup players 21st-century South Korean sportswomen