Lee Jae-sung (; born 10 August 1992) 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 le ...

who plays as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, 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 #Cent ...

or winger for

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

club

Mainz 05 1. Fußball- und Sportverein Mainz 05 e. V., usually shortened to 1. FSV Mainz 05, Mainz 05 () or simply Mainz (), is a German sports club, founded in 1905 and based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. 1. FSV Mainz 05 play in the Bundesliga, the top ...

and the South Korea national team.

Club career

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors

Lee joined

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors ( ko, 전북 현대 모터스) 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. Playing at the Jeonju World Cup S ...

in 2014 and made his debut in the

2014 AFC Champions League The 2014 AFC Champions League was the 33rd edition of the top-level Asian club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 12th under the current AFC Champions League title. Guangzhou Evergrande were the defe ...

match against

Yokohama F. Marinos is a Japanese professional football club based in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, part of the Greater Tokyo Area. The club competes in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. Having won the J-League title four times an ...

on 26 February. Choi Kang-hee, the manager of Jeonbuk at the time, praised his ability which kept balance about attack and defense of team, and actively used him, the newcomer. In 2016, he spent his best season by providing 17 assists during a year and winning 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-Ain ...

. In the 2017 K League 1, he won the

Most Valuable Player In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

award after having eight goals and ten assists during 28 appearances.

Holstein Kiel

In July 2018, Lee joined

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

club

Holstein Kiel Kieler Sportvereinigung Holstein von 1900 e.V., simply as KSV Holstein or Kieler SV Holstein, commonly known as Holstein Kiel (), is a German association football and sports club based in the city of Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein. From the 1900s thro ...

on a three-year deal until 30 June 2021. The transfer fee paid to Jeonbuk was reported as €1.5 million. He played his first game against

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football section. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of three ...

on 4 August, and was named the Player of the Matchday by leaving a deep impression with two assists. On 13 January 2021, he played full time and scored the fourth penalty in a

2020–21 DFB-Pokal The 2020–21 DFB-Pokal was the 78th season of the annual German football cup competition. Sixty-four teams participated in the competition, including all teams from the previous year's Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga. The competition began on 11 Se ...

match, where Kiel won 6–5 on penalties after drawing 2–2 against

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

. Afterwards, Kiel reached the semi-finals of DFB-Pokal for the first time in history, but they were eliminated by

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional footb ...

. They also finished third in the

2020–21 2. Bundesliga The 2020–21 2. Bundesliga was the 47th season of the 2. Bundesliga. It began on 18 September 2020 and concluded on 23 May 2021. The season was originally scheduled to begin on 31 July 2020 and conclude on 16 May 2021, though this was delayed du ...

, qualifying for the promotion play-off. In the two-legged play-off, Lee scored a goal and provided an assist, contributing to all two of Kiel's goals, but they lost 5–2 on aggregate to

Köln Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 million ...

Mainz 05

In July 2021, Lee joined

club

on a three-year deal until 30 June 2024.

International career

In the

2017 EAFF East Asian Cup The 2017 EAFF E-1 Football Championship was the 7th edition of the EAFF E-1 Football Championship, the football championship of East Asia. It was held in Japan in December 2017. Through the agreement between EAFF and ASEAN Football Federation (AF ...

, he led South Korea's title, and was named the Most Valuable Player and the Best Duel Player. In May 2018, he was named in

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 ...

's squad for the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

in Russia, and played all three games in the group stage.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list South Korea's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Lee goal''.

Honours

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors *

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 ...

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 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

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 ser ...

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

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

South Korea U23 *

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until t ...

South Korea * EAFF Championship:

Individual * K League 1 Best XI:

* K League 1 Young Player of the Year:

All-Star Squad:

Opta Opta Sports, formerly Opta Sportsdata, is a British sports analytics company. Opta provides data for 30 sports in 70 countries, with clients ranging from leagues to broadcasters and betting websites. The company was founded in 1996, and acquired ...

Best XI:

* K League 1 Most Valuable Player:

* EAFF Championship Most Valuable Player:

Goal of the Season: 2019–20

References

External links

*
Lee Jae-sung – National Team stats
at KFA *
Lee Jae-sung
at Asian Games Incheon 2014
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Jae-sung 1992 births Living people Sportspeople from Ulsan Association football midfielders South Korean footballers South Korea international footballers South Korea under-23 international footballers Footballers at the 2014 Asian Games Asian Games medalists in football Asian Games gold medalists for South Korea Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games 2018 FIFA World Cup players 2019 AFC Asian Cup players Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors players Holstein Kiel players 1. FSV Mainz 05 players K League 1 players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Korea University alumni South Korean expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Germany South Korean expatriate sportspeople in Germany 21st-century South Korean people 2022 FIFA World Cup players