Lee Eul-yong (

Hangul The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The let ...

: 이을용) (born 8 September 1975) is a

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

coach, manager and former player .

Early life

Lee was born in

Taebaek Taebaek () is a city in Gangwon province, South Korea. Its name is shared with that of the Taebaek Mountains. Situated at an elevation of , Taebaek is the highest city in South Korea. Attractions Manggyeongsa Temple in Hyeol-dong, at an elevation ...

Gangwon Gangwon or Kangwŏn may refer to: * Gangwon Province (historical), the Goryeo, Joseon Dynasty and the Japanese Korean province * Gangwon Province (South Korea), a province of South Korea, with its capital at Chuncheon. Before the division of Kore ...

, and attended high school in

Gangneung Gangneung () is a municipal city in the province of Gangwon-do, on the east coast of South Korea. It has a population of 213,658 (as of 2017).Gangneung City (2003)Population & Households. Retrieved January 14, 2006. Gangneung is the economic ...

. He continued his football career during his school days, but he failed to join a university football club. He stopped playing football for a while before receiving an offer to join semi-professional club Korea Railroad.

International career

Lee was part of the South Korean national team in the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

. Noted for his accurate kicks including free-kicks, he provided two assists against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, and scored a free-kick against

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. After the World Cup, he transferred to

Trabzonspor Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Trabzon. Formed in 1967 through a merger of several local clubs, the men's football team has won seven Süper Lig championships. Trabzonspor also have a women's football team, ...

with the help of Tınaz Tırpan. In September 2006, after a match against

Chinese Taipei "Chinese Taipei" is the term used in various international organizations and tournaments for groups or delegations representing the Republic of China (ROC), a country commonly known as Taiwan. Due to the One-China principle stipulated by th ...

, Lee announced that he would retire from the national team to focus on

FC Seoul FC Seoul ( ko, FC 서울) is a South Korean professional football club based in Seoul that competes in the K League 1, the top flight of South Korean football. The club is owned by GS Sports, a subsidiary of GS Group. They play their home games ...

and also to make way for younger players in the upcoming

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

Eul-yong Ta

Lee is well known by most South Koreans and other Asian football fans for a famous incident which is sometimes referred as "Eul-yong Ta (을용타)," and roughly translated as 'Eul-yong Strike/Smash'. The incident occurred during a match against

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

in the inaugural

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 East ...

in December 2003. During the second half of the game, Chinese forward Li Yi kicked Lee in the shins immediately after he finished his pass. Visually upset with Li's violent play, Lee slapped Li on the back of his head. Li Yi started rolling on the pitch grabbing his head in an apparent exaggeration. For a while the entire Chinese and Korean squad ran toward the scene but further conflict did not occur, as the referee awarded a yellow card for Li and red card for Lee. Korea defeated China in the match, and Lee became the source of a popular

internet meme An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...

after the incident.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Results list South Korea's goal tally first.''

Filmography

Television

Honours

Player

Sangmu FC * Korean Semi-professional League (Autumn): 1996, 1997 * Korean National Championship: 1996 Bucheon SK * Korean League Cup: 2000+ Trabzonspor *

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup ( Turkish: ''Türkiye Kupası'') is a football cup competition in Turkish football, run by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. During a brief sponsorship period with Fortis, its sponsored name was ''Fortis Türkiye Kupası ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

FC Seoul * Korean League Cup runner-up:

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

South Korea *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

fourth place:

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

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 ...

Entertainer

References

External links

*
National Team Player Record
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Eul-Yong 1975 births Living people Association football wingers South Korean footballers South Korean expatriate footballers South Korea international footballers Daejeon Korail FC players Gimcheon Sangmu FC players Jeju United FC players Trabzonspor footballers FC Seoul players FC Seoul non-playing staff FC Seoul managers Gangwon FC players Korea National League players K League 1 players Süper Lig players Expatriate footballers in Turkey 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2002 FIFA World Cup players 2004 AFC Asian Cup players 2006 FIFA World Cup players South Korean expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Dankook University alumni South Korean football managers People from Taebaek