Lee Jong-ho (; born 24 February 1992) is a South Korean former 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 played 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 ...

Club career

Lee attended Gwangyang Jecheol High School, which had the under-18 club of

Jeonnam Dragons The Jeonnam Dragons () are a South Korean professional football club based in the city of Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province that competes in the K League 2, the second tier of South Korean football. The Dragons play their home matches at the G ...

. Known for his aggressive movement and accurate shot, he was nicknamed the "

Gwangyang Gwangyang (; ) is a city in South Jeolla Province, South Korea. Gwangyang is the home of POSCO's Gwangyang Steel Works, the largest facility of its kind in the world. The city is also home to K League Classic football side Jeonnam Dragons. Gwa ...

Rooney" during his schooldays. After graduating from high school, Lee signed a three-year contract with senior team on 24 February 2011. He made his Jeonnam debut in a 1–0 win over

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC () is a South Korean professional football club based in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province that competes in the K League 1, the top tier of South Korean football. Jeonbuk have won the K League a record nine times, including ...

at the

K League K League () is South Korea's professional football league. It includes the first division K League 1 and the second division K League 2. Clubs competing in the K League have won a record total of twelve AFC Champions League Elite, AFC Champions ...

on 6 March 2011, coming on as a substitute for Nam Joon-jae. He played as a main player for the club since 2012, and became the club's top goalscorer with 12 goals in 2015. After moving to

in 2016, Lee won the

2016 AFC Champions League The 2016 AFC Champions League was the 35th edition of Asia's premier club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 14th under the current AFC Champions League title. Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors defeated Al ...

, and scored a goal against

Mamelodi Sundowns Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club (simply known as Sundowns) is a South African professional football club based in Mamelodi, Pretoria in the Gauteng province that plays in the Premiership, the first tier of South African football league syste ...

at the

2016 FIFA Club World Cup The 2016 FIFA Club World Cup (officially known as the FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2016 presented by Alibaba YunOS Auto for sponsorship reasons) was the 13th edition of the FIFA Club World Cup, a FIFA-organised international club association footbal ...

. However, he was not a main player at Jeonbuk, and left for

Ulsan Hyundai Ulsan HD FC (), formerly Ulsan Hyundai FC, is a South Korean professional football club based in Ulsan that competes in the K League 1, the top tier of South Korean football. Founded in 1983 as Hyundai Horang-i, they joined the K League in 198 ...

to get more time on the field. He led Ulsan's 2–1 first leg win by having one goal and one assist in the

2017 Korean FA Cup The 2017 Korean FA Cup, known as the 2017 KEB Hana Bank FA Cup, was the 22nd edition of the Korean FA Cup. The champions Ulsan Hyundai qualified for the group stage of the 2018 AFC Champions League. This edition introduced video assistant referee ...

final against

Busan IPark Busan IPark FC () is a South Korean professional football club based in Busan that competes in K League 2, the second tier of the South Korean football pyramid. They play their home games at the Busan Gudeok Stadium. Busan IPark was founded as ...

. His club won its first

Korean FA Cup The Korea Cup (), formerly the Korean FA Cup, is a national Association football, football cup knockout competition of South Korea, held annually by the Korea Football Association (KFA). Before the competition was established in 1996, two simil ...

title after the second leg ended in a goalless draw, but he suffered a fractured tibia in the middle of the match. He could play only three matches in 2018 due to the injury, and transferred to

J2 League The or simply J2 is the second division of the and the second level of the Japanese association football league system. The top tier is represented by the J1 League. It (along with the rest of the J.League) is currently sponsored by Meiji Yasud ...

club

V-Varen Nagasaki is a Japanese association football, football club based in Nagasaki, Capital of Nagasaki Prefecture. They currently play in J2 League, the Japanese second tier professional in football league. History The club was established in 1985 as Ari ...

the next year. In 2020, Lee returned to Jeonnam Dragons relegated to the

K League 2 The K League 2 () is the men's second-highest division of the South Korean football league system. It is contested between thirteen professional clubs and operates on a promotion and relegation system with K League 1. History In 2011, the or ...

at the time. While captaining Jeonnam in 2021, he scored nine goals in 32 matches and helped his club win the

2021 Korean FA Cup The 2021 Korean FA Cup, known as the 2021 Hana Bank FA Cup due to sponsorship agreement with Hana Bank, was the 26th edition of the Korean FA Cup. Similar to the previous year, U-League teams did not participate, and the top ten sides from the K ...

. Despite these performances, he left the club without a contract extension before the 2022 season. Lastly, he played for

Seongnam FC Seongnam Football Club () is a South Korean professional football (soccer), football club based in Seongnam that competes in the K League 2, the second tier of South Korean football. It is one of the most successful clubs in South Korea and the ...

for two years before announcing his retirement on 12 March 2024.

International career

Lee provided three assists as well as scoring a hat-trick against

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

, while he led South Korea to the

2008 AFC U-16 Championship The 2008 AFC U-16 Championship was the 13th competition of the AFC U-17 Championship organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), which was held between 4 and 19 October 2008 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The AFC U-17 Championship 2008 Qualifi ...

final. South Korea lost 2–1 to

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

in the final, but he received the Most Valuable Player award after the match. He also scored two goals at the

2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the thirteenth tournament of the FIFA U-17 World Cup held in Nigeria from 24 October to 15 November 2009. Switzerland national under-17 football team, Switzerland won the tournament, beating the host team and holde ...

. Lee scored a goal after avoiding opponents' goalkeeper with his exquisite ball control in a 2–0 win over

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

at the 2015 EAFF Championship, where he made his senior international debut.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors *

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League Elite (abbreviated as the ACL Elite) is an annual continental club association football, football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's List of top-division football clubs i ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Ulsan Hyundai *

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

Jeonnam Dragons *

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

South Korea U17 *

AFC U-16 Championship The AFC U-17 Asian Cup, formerly known as the AFC U-16 Championship and AFC U-17 Championship, is a football competition, organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) held once every two years for Asian under-17 teams that also serves as a q ...

runner-up:

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

South Korea U23 *

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years for athletes of Asia. The Games were regulated by Asian Games Federation from the 1951 Asian Games, first Games in New Delhi, India in 1951, until ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

South Korea *

EAFF Championship EAFF E-1 Football Championship, known as the East Asian Football Championship from 2003 to 2010, and the EAFF East Asian Cup for the 2013 and 2015 editions, is a men's international football competition in East Asia for member nations of the East ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Individual *

Most Valuable Player:

* K League All-Star: 2014, 2015

Notes

References

External links

* * * *
Lee Jong-ho
at Asian Games Incheon 2014 {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Jong-ho 1992 births Living people South Korean men's footballers Jeonnam Dragons players Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors players Ulsan HD FC players V-Varen Nagasaki players K League 1 players K League 2 players J2 League players Footballers at the 2014 Asian Games Asian Games medalists in football Asian Games gold medalists for South Korea Asian Games footballers for South Korea Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games Men's association football forwards Sportspeople from Suncheon Footballers from South Jeolla Province 21st-century South Korean sportsmen