Kim Kee-hee (; or ; born 13 July 1989) 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 ...

who plays as a

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either ...

for

Ulsan Hyundai Ulsan Hyundai FC ( ko, 울산 현대 축구단) 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 ...

. He can also be fielded as a

defensive midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundari ...

. Kim has played for teams in the

K-League K League (Hangul: K리그) is South Korea's professional football league. It includes first division K League 1 and second division K League 2. History Until the 1970s, South Korean football operated two major football leagues, the National ...

, Qatar Stars League,

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Association Super League, commonly known as Chinese Super League or CSL, currently known as the China Ping An Chinese Football Association Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest tier of professional association ...

and Major League Soccer. He has also represented

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

at the national level.

Club career

Daegu

Kim initially played University League at

Hongik University Hongik University (, colloquially ''Hongdae'') is a private university in Seoul, South Korea. Founded by an activist in 1946, the university is located in Mapo-gu district of central Seoul, South Korea with a second campus(branch campus) in S ...

from 2008 to 2010. Kim was then drafted in the second round of the 2011 K-League draft by

Daegu FC Daegu FC ( Korean: 대구 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 rel ...

. Kim made his professional debut on 5 March 2011, playing the full 90 minutes of Daegu's opening game of the

2011 K-League The 2011 K League, officially known as Hyundai Oilbank K-League 2011, was the 29th season of the K League. It was sponsored by Hyundai Oilbank. Teams General information Managerial changes Regular season League table Positions by match ...

season against

Gwangju FC Gwangju FC (Korean: 광주 FC) is a South Korean professional football club based in Gwangju that competes in the K League 1, the top tier of South Korean football. They joined the K League in the 2011 season. History Gwangju FC was founded ...

, which ended in a 2–3 loss for

Loan to Al-Sailiya

On 26 September 2012, Kim joined the newly promoted Qatar Stars League club Al-Sailiya on a loan deal.

Jeonbuk Hyundai

Kim joined fellow K-League side Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors in 2013 and would help the team to win two successive K-League titles.

Shanghai Shenhua

On 19 February 2016, Kim moved to

club

Shanghai Shenhua Shanghai Shenhua F.C. () is a Chinese professional football club that participates in the Chinese Super League under license from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The term ''shen hua'' literally translates as "the Flower of Shanghai" in ...

from Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors for a reported transfer fee of US$6 million. Kim's agent had described the deal as the "biggest transfer in Korean history". On 5 March 2016, he made his debut for the club in a 1–1 draw against

Yanbian Funde Yanbian Funde F.C. () was a Chinese football club. The team was based in Yanji, Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, Jilin province where their home stadium is the Yanji Nationwide Fitness Centre Stadium that has a seating capacity of 30,000 ...

Seattle Sounders FC

On 27 February 2018, Kim was signed by Seattle Sounders FC of Major League Soccer using targeted

allocation money Allocation money, in Major League Soccer, represents an amount of money that teams may use to sign players and/or allocate to their salaries to get under the salary cap. Reasons for obtaining MLS teams receive general allocation money for these r ...

Ulsan Hyundai

On 26 February 2020, Kim was signed by

K League 1 The K League 1 (Hangul: K리그1) is the men's top professional football division of the South Korean football league system. The league is contested by twelve clubs. History The South Korean professional football league was founded in 1 ...

International career

In 2011, Kim was selected for the South Korea U-23 national team that participated in the 2012 King's Cup, an annual tournament held in

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

. In 2012, Kim won the bronze medal with South Korea U-23 in the

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, which was the first Olympic medal ever in Korean football history, and he was granted exemption to two years of mandatory military service like the rest of the team.

Honours

Club

;Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors *

(2):

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, 2015 ;Shanghai Greenland Shenhua *

Chinese FA Cup The Chinese FA Cup (, abbreviated as CFA Cup) is the national knockout cup competition in China organized by the Chinese Football Association. Its current holders are Shandong Taishan, having beaten Shanghai Port in 2021 for a record seventh tit ...

(1):

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

;Seattle Sounders FC *

MLS Cup The MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The game is held in November and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Conferen ...

(1):

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

;Ulsan Hyundai * AFC Champions League:

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...

International

;South Korea U-23 * Summer Olympic Games Bronze Medal:

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

;South Korea *

EAFF East Asian Cup 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 Eas ...

: 2015

Individual

* Korea Football Association: K League Classic Best XI: 2015

Career statistics

References

External links

* * * * 1989 births Living people Association football midfielders South Korean footballers South Korean expatriate footballers South Korea under-23 international footballers South Korea international footballers Daegu FC players Al-Sailiya SC players Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors players Shanghai Shenhua F.C. players Ulsan Hyundai FC players K League 1 players Qatar Stars League players Seattle Sounders FC players Chinese Super League players Expatriate footballers in Qatar South Korean expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Expatriate footballers in China Expatriate soccer players in the United States South Korean expatriate sportspeople in China Footballers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers of South Korea Olympic medalists in football Olympic bronze medalists for South Korea Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Major League Soccer players Sportspeople from Busan {{SouthKorea-footy-midfielder-stub