Lee Woon-jae

Early career, illness and return

Lee was selected for South Korea's squad at the 1992 Summer Olympics, but did not appear in the tournament. He made his senior international debut in 1994 and was included in the squad for the 1994 FIFA World Cup. In the final group match against Germany, the 21-year-old Lee replaced captain Choi In-young at half-time with South Korea trailing 3–0. He conceded no further goals as South Korea recovered to lose 3–2. Lee later acknowledged that his conditioning deteriorated after the World Cup and that his weight rose above 93 kilograms (205 lb). After being omitted from the 1994 Asian Games squad, he lost nearly 10 kilograms (22 lb) at the urging of Olympic team manager Anatoliy Byshovets and returned to the under-23 team. He played in the March 1996 Olympic qualifying tournament, including the semi-final victory over Iraq which secured qualification for the Atlanta Games, but was diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis soon after the tournament and was not selected for the Olympic finals. A later profile also reported that Lee suffered from hepatitis during his first seasons with Suwon, where limited playing time further slowed his recovery. During Lee's absence, Kim Byung-ji became South Korea's established goalkeeper, and Lee was omitted from the squad for the 1998 FIFA World Cup. Lee returned to the senior team under Huh Jung-moo at the Korea Cup in June 1999. At the 2000 AFC Asian Cup, Huh started Kim Yong-dae in the opening match…

Nicknamed the "Spider Hands" in South Korea, Lee did not have good height and rapid pace, but showed great leadership, judgments and harmonies with defenders. He was noted for his predictive ability, which made him strong on penalty shoot-outs. In shoot-outs of his K League career, he won 92% of matches (11 out of 12) and saved 45% of shots (26 out of 58).

In 2025, he was appointed as the goalkeeping coach of the Vietnam national team. Lee's strength was continuously shown when coaching Vietnam national teams. He signalled to goalkeeper Cao Văn Bình to dive in directions he predicted, leading the player to defeat South Korea in a penalty shoot-out of the 2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup.

Club

International