is a Japanese football player of

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

descent who plays for

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

-based

Albirex Niigata is a professional football club based in Niigata, Japan. Formed in 1955 as Niigata Eleven SC, it was renamed Albireo Niigata FC in 1995, and Albirex Niigata in 1997. From 2023, Albirex will be playing on the J1 League, coming back to the f ...

. He has made 11 appearances for the Japanese national team. He is sometimes known as Chung, in reference to his Korean name, Lee Chung-sung. Lee is know in Japan for coming on as a substitute in the 109th minute of the 2011 AFC Asian Cup

Final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

held in

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it ...

and scoring his first international goal to secure a 1–0 win over Australia, giving Japan their fourth Asian Cup success.

Early life and family

Lee was born to third generation

Zainichi Korean comprise ethnic Koreans who have permanent residency status in Japan or who have become Japanese citizens, and whose immigration to Japan originated before 1945, or who are descendants of those immigrants. They are a group distinct from South ...

parents in Tanashi (present-day

Nishitokyo () is a city located in the western portion of Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 206,047, and a population density of 13,000 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Nishitokyo is located at t ...

), Tokyo. He has Byeokjin Lee ( 벽진이씨) ancestry. His father was also a footballer, who played for Yokohama Tristar FC in the

Japan Soccer League , or JSL, was the top flight association football league in Japan between 1965 and 1992, and was the precursor to the current professional league, the J.League. JSL was the second national league of a team sport in Japan after the professional ...

. His Korean name is Lee Chung-Sung (

: 이충성,

Hanja Hanja (Hangul: ; Hanja: , ), alternatively known as Hancha, are Chinese characters () used in the writing of Korean. Hanja was used as early as the Gojoseon period, the first ever Korean kingdom. (, ) refers to Sino-Korean vocabulary, ...

: 李忠成) and also had used pass name .

Club career

Japan

Lee started playing football at Komine FC and later moved to

Yokogawa Electric is a Japanese multinational electrical engineering and software company, with businesses based on its measurement, control, and information technologies. It has a global workforce of over 19,000 employees, 84 subsidiary and 3 affiliated compa ...

. In 2001, he joined FC Tokyo youth team and took second places at All Japan Club Youth Soccer tournament, Prince Takamado Cup and J.League Youth tournament. He briefly joined training squads for the South Korea U-19 and U-20 teams but not played at official games. He experienced severe discrimination from Korean teammates referring to him as a ''ban-jjokbari'' (half-Jap) with strong racial undertones. He was promoted to FC Tokyo in 2004 and moved to

Kashiwa Reysol is a Japanese professional football club based in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, part of the Greater Tokyo Area. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. Their home stadium is Sankyo Frontier Kashiwa Stadium ...

in 2005 and later joined

Sanfrecce Hiroshima Sanfrecce Hiroshima ( ja, サンフレッチェ広島, translit=''Sanfuretche Hiroshima'') is a Japanese professional football club based in Asaminami-ku, Hiroshima. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the co ...

in 2009.

Southampton

On 11 January 2012, Lee secured a work permit to allow him to play for

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, who confirmed the free transfer on 25 January 2012. He made his debut for Southampton on 28 January 2012, as a substitute in a fourth round

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

match against

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, eas ...

. Lee started and played the duration of the replay, failing to score as Millwall won 3–2 after a 92nd-minute winner from

Liam Feeney Liam Michael Feeney-Howard (born 21 January 1987) is an English footballer who plays as a midfielder for National League North team Scunthorpe United. He became a free agent on 30 June 2023. Career Early career Feeney joined League One side So ...

. He scored his first goal for Southampton in a 4–0 victory over

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 188 ...

on 18 February, with a "venomous strike into the far corner" of the goal. He made his first league start one week later, a 3–0 victory away at

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...

, with Lee winning a penalty for the third goal scored by

Rickie Lambert Rickie Lee Lambert (born 16 February 1982) is an English former professional Association football, footballer. During his career, he played as a Forward (association football)#Striker, striker, before retiring in 2017. He won a number of persona ...

. After damaging ligaments on 10 March 2012 Lee missed the rest of the season. His goal won the Southampton's Goal of the Season Award. After 5 months out injured, he made his return to action with a goal in a 4–1 victory at Stevenage in the League Cup. He was handed the number 19 shirt for the 2013–14 season after Southampton invited him back to the First Team. He made his first return to the Southampton team after year when starting in the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

against

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

. On 14 January 2014 he was released from his contract at Southampton after a two-year spell.

Return to Japan

On 14 February 2013, Lee returned to his former club, FC Tokyo on loan until the end of June. He made his debut on 2 March 2013, coming on as a 72nd-minute substitutee. He scored his first goal for the club on 23 March 2013 in the 77th minute against two-time defending champion Kashima Antlers.

Urawa Red Diamonds

He had a successful spell with

Urawa Red Diamonds , colloquially Urawa Reds (浦和レッズ), also known as Mitsubishi Urawa Football Club from April 1992 to January 1996, is a professional football club in the city of Saitama, part of the Greater Tokyo Area in Japan. The club plays in the J ...

winning the 2016 J.League Cup,

2017 Suruga Bank Championship The 2017 Suruga Bank Championship ( ja, スルガ銀行チャンピオンシップ2017; es, Copa Suruga Bank 2017) was the tenth edition of the Suruga Bank Championship (also referred to as the ''J.League Cup / Copa Sudamericana Championship Fin ...

2017 AFC Champions League The 2017 AFC Champions League was the 36th edition of Asia's premier club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 15th under the current AFC Champions League title. Urawa Red Diamonds defeated Al-Hilal ...

and the 2018 Emperor's Cup.

Singapore

After nine Years in Japan, On 1 January 2022, Lee joined Singapore-based

on a one-year deal. He made his debut in the 2022

Singapore Community Shield The Singapore Community Shield (also known as the AIA Community Shield due to sponsorship reasons; formerly the Charity Shield) is the curtain-raiser to the football season in Singapore. The match is contested between the champions of the previou ...

, netting a penalty in a 2-1 loss to reigning

SPL SPL may refer to: Association football * Saudi Professional League * Scottish Premier League * SportPesa Premier League, Kenya * Singapore Premier League * RoboCup Standard Platform League, matches between autonomous robots Computing Program ...

champions

Lion City Sailors Lion City Sailors Football Club, commonly referred to as The Sailors or LCS, is a Singaporean professional football club competing in the Singapore Premier League, the top tier of the Singapore football league system. Since the 2021 season, th ...

. He ended the 2022 season winning the 2022 Singapore Premier League title. On 12 December 2022, he extended his contract for another season, for the 20th year of his professional career.

International career

In August 2008, Lee was selected Japan U-23 national team for 2008 Summer Olympics. At this tournament, he played all 3 matches. After becoming a regular starter for Sanfrecce and finishing the 2010 season strongly, Lee was rewarded with a call-up to Japan's

2011 Asian Cup The 2011 AFC Asian Cup was the 15th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held in Qatar from 7 to 29 January 2011. It was the fifte ...

squad and made his full international debut on 9 January 2011 against

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

. His first international goal was in the 109th minute of the final to secure a 1–0 win over Australia and Japan's fourth Asian Cup success.

Club statistics

Soccerway profile
/ref>

National team statistics

/ref>

International career statistics

Appearances in major competitions

Goals for senior national team

Honours

Club

Sanfrecce Hiroshima *

J.League Cup The is a Japanese football (soccer) competition organized by J.League. It has been sponsored by Yamazaki Biscuits (YBC) of Yamazaki Baking (formerly Yamazaki Nabisco) since its inception in 1992. It is also known as the or (Levain is one of Y ...

runner-up: 2010 Southampton * EFL Championship runner-up: 2011–12 Urawa Red Diamonds *

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 of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

* Suruga Bank Championship:

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 ...

* AFC Champions League:

* Emperor's Cup:

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

Yokohama F. Marinos * J1 League:

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 ...

Albirex Niigata (S) *

Singapore Premier League The Singapore Premier League, commonly abbreviated as SPL, officially known as the AIA Singapore Premier League for sponsorship reasons, is a men's professional football league sanctioned by the Football Association of Singapore (FAS), which ...

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 ...

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

International

Japan * AFC Asian Cup: 2011 *

Kirin Cup The is an association football tournament organised in Japan by the Kirin Brewery Company. The host, Japan, is a participant in every edition. The tournament was founded in 1978 then known as Japan Cup (International competition which nationa ...

: 2011

References

External links

* *
Japan National Football Team Database
* * * *

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Tadanari 1985 births Living people Association football people from Tokyo Metropolis Japanese men's footballers Japan men's international footballers J1 League players J2 League players English Football League players FC Tokyo players Kashiwa Reysol players Sanfrecce Hiroshima players Southampton F.C. players Urawa Red Diamonds players Yokohama F. Marinos players Kyoto Sanga FC players Olympic footballers for Japan Footballers at the 2008 Summer Olympics 2011 AFC Asian Cup players AFC Asian Cup-winning players Japanese expatriate men's footballers Japanese people of Korean descent Naturalized citizens of Japan Zainichi Korean people Men's association football forwards People from Nishitōkyō, Tokyo Albirex Niigata Singapore FC players Japanese expatriate sportspeople in Singapore Expatriate men's footballers in Singapore