Lee Kyung-soo (; born October 28, 1973) is a former

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

defender, who predominantly played in 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 titles, the top conti ...

who is the interim head coach of

K League 1 The K League 1 () is a professional association football league in South Korea and the highest level of the South Korean football league system. The league is contested by twelve clubs. It is one of the most successful leagues in the Asian Foo ...

club of

Ulsan HD 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 1984. ...

Club career

Lee's foray as a professional footballer began with the

Suwon Samsung Bluewings The Suwon Samsung Bluewings () are a South Korean Association football, football club based in Suwon that competes in the K League 2, the second tier of South Korean football. Founded in December 1995, they have won the K League on four occas ...

as a draftee, and he spent two seasons with the club without ever featuring in the K-League before departing for single season spells with

Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i 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 1984. ...

and Cheonan Ilhwa Chunma. A two-year stint at

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 ...

followed. Despite spending six years at K-League clubs, Lee had still to establish himself as a first team regular, accumulating a mere 24 games in the K-League, with a few matches in Cup competitions. Lee then dropped out of the K-League ranks to spend the 2002 season with amateur side Seoul City FC before returning to the K-League with

Daegu FC Daegu FC () is a South Korean professional football club based in Daegu. The club was founded as a community club at the end of 2002, and made their K League 1 debut in 2003. Daegu has played mostly in the K League 1 but was relegated at the ...

for their inaugural season in the K-League. He finally was able to consider himself as a regular starter in Daegu's side for the 2003 season, playing 22 matches in the K-League. However, the following season he fell out of favour and saw much less match play. By this time

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Super League (), commonly known as the Chinese Super League or the CSL (), also known as the China Resources Beverage Chinese Football Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Ch ...

side

Sichuan Guancheng Sichuan First City () is a defunct Chinese football club, which was located in Chengdu, Sichuan where they played in the Chengdu Sports Centre. They were founded in 1953 and spent a large part of their history within the top tier of Chinese footb ...

was showing interest in Lee's services, and he subsequently signed with the club for the 2004 season. He spent only a single season in China before returning to South Korea for a final season in the K-League with

Daejeon Citizen Daejeon Hana Citizen FC () is a South Korean professional football team based in Daejeon, competing in K League 1, the top tier of South Korean football. At the time of its foundation in 1997, Daejeon was the first community-owned club in South K ...

Management career

After retiring as a player at the conclusion of the 2005 K-League season, Lee took up a coaching position with FC MB. MB means initial of

Hong Myung-bo Hong Myung-bo (also spelled Hong Myeong-bo, , Hanja: 洪明甫; ; born 12 February 1969) is a South Korean football manager and former footballer who played as a sweeper. Hong is often considered one of the greatest Asian footballers of all t ...

's given name.

International career

Lee was a member of the South Korea under-20 football team. He was also a squad member of the South Korea under-23 football team (which participated at the

1996 Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

), even though at the time of the

, he was still at

Soongsil University Soongsil University (SSU) is the first modern university in Korea, dating its history back to 1897. It was founded under the Christian missionary William M. Baird. The campus is located in 369 Sangdo-ro, Dongjak-gu, Seoul, South Korea. Hist ...

. It was only after the Olympics that he began his professional career in the

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Kyung-soo 1973 births Living people Men's association football defenders South Korean men's footballers South Korean expatriate men's footballers Suwon Samsung Bluewings players Ulsan HD FC players Seongnam FC players Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors players Daegu FC players Daejeon Hana Citizen players K League 1 players Expatriate men's footballers in China Footballers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for South Korea South Korean expatriate sportspeople in China