Lee Hoe-taik (이회택, born 11 October 1946) is a former

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 ...

player and manager. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest South Korean forwards of all time. He is also one of four players inducted into the Korean FA Hall of Fame.

Early life

Lee started his youth career late in high school, but showed a fast development. He was selected for the South Korea national team three years after beginning football in earnest. On 10 December 1966, Lee made his senior international debut against

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 bo ...

in the

1966 Asian Games The 1966 Asian Games (), also known as the V Asiad, were a continental multi-sport event that was held from 9 to 20 December 1966, in Bangkok, Thailand. A total of 142 events in 16 sports were contested by athletes during the games. Taiwan and Isr ...

Club career

Lee joined Yangzee, founded by the

Korean Central Intelligence Agency 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 ** ...

to develop the national team. In the 1967

Pestabola Merdeka Merdeka Tournament or Pestabola Merdeka is a friendly football tournament held in Malaysia to commemorate the Independence Day. The competition bears the Malay word for independence. As of 2022, it has been held 40 times, and decreasingly in r ...

, Lee scored three goals, contributing to team's title. Yangzee also participated in the

1969 Asian Champion Club Tournament The 1969 Asian Champion Club Tournament was the 2nd edition of the annual Asian club football competition hosted by Asian Football Confederation. Ten domestic league champions from ten countries competed in the tournament. The tournament was held ...

. Lee scored a hat-trick in the first group match against

Mysore State Mysore State, colloquially Old Mysore, was a state within the Dominion of India and the later Republic of India from 1947 until 1956. The state was formed by renaming the Kingdom of Mysore, and Bangalore replaced Mysore as the state's capital. ...

. Lee was injured during the third group match against

Bangkok Bank Bangkok Bank Public Company Limited ( th, ธนาคารกรุงเทพ, Royal Thai General System of Transcription, RTGS: Thanakhan Krung Thep) is one of the largest commercial banks in Thailand. Its branch network includes over 1,165 ...

, but assisted the winning goal in the next match against Vietnam Police. Yangzee won all of the five matches including the semi-finals before the final, but it lost 1–0 to Israeli club

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv ( he, מכבי תל אביב) is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such ...

after extra time in the final.

International career

Lee scored three goals in five matches of the 1968 Summer Olympics qualification. South Korea failed to qualify for the Olympics on goal difference, although their points were tied with

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, the group winners. In the

1970 FIFA World Cup qualification A total of 75 teams entered the 1970 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds, competing for a total of 16 spots in the final tournament. Hosts Mexico and defending champions England qualified automatically, leaving 14 spots open for competition. Fo ...

, Lee showed poor performance and couldn't prevent South Korea's elimination. However, Lee proved his worth again as an important playmaker in the

1969 King's Cup The 1969 King's Cup finals were held from November 19 to November 28, 1969, in Bangkok. This was the second edition of the international football competition. Indonesia were set to defend the championship they won in 1968. In the final, South Kore ...

after the failure in the World Cup qualification. He assisted three winning goals against

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

, and

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

, leading South Korea to the title. Lee's performance was continued in the 1970 Pestabola Merdeka. In the group stage, he scored the winning goal against

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, borde ...

, and assisted two goals against Indonesia. In the semi-finals and the final, Lee consecutively scored winning goals against

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

. On 5 September 1970, South Korea had a friendly match with Benfica. Lee scored the opener, but the match ended in a 1–1 draw with

Eusébio Eusébio da Silva Ferreira (; 25 January 1942 – 5 January 2014), nicknamed the "Black Panther", the "Black Pearl" or "O Rei" ("The King"), was a Portuguese footballer who played as a striker. He is considered one of the greatest players of ...

's penalty equaliser. Lee recorded a goal against

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

and two assists against Malaysia in the 1970 King's Cup, helping South Korea win the competition again. Lee played for South Korea in the

1970 Asian Games The 6th Asian Games () were held from 9 to 20 December 1970 in Bangkok, Thailand.- - Seoul, South Korea, had been selected to host the 6th Games but it declined due to both financial reasons and security threats from neighboring North Korea. (T ...

, making the effort to won a major title. He scored the winning goal against

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

in the group stage, and assisted all of South Korea's two goals in the semi-finals against Japan. After defeating its biggest rivals, South Korea shared the gold with Burma by drawing 0–0 in the final. Lee was named the Korean FA Player of the Year as the largest contributor to three Asian titles of the national team in that year. Lee also participated in the

1972 AFC Asian Cup The 1972 AFC Asian Cup was the 5th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), that was hosted in Thailand . The finals were held in Thailand between 7 May ...

. Lee scored the winning goal against

Khmer Republic The Khmer Republic ( km, សាធារណរដ្ឋខ្មែរ, ; french: République khmère) was a pro-United States military-led republican government of Cambodia that was formally declared on 9 October 1970. The Khmer Republic wa ...

in the group stage. In the final against Iran, he assisted the equaliser, but South Korea finally lost 2–1 after extra time. On 2 June 1972, South Korea had a friendly match with Santos, for which

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; born 23 October 1940), known as Pelé (), is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and labelled "the greatest" by FIFA, ...

was playing. Lee scored a goal, but South Korea lost 3–2.

Style of play

Lee was nicknamed the "Leopard" in South Korea due to his innate stamina, rapid pace, and powerful shots. He was also proficient in creating chances, giving many key passes to other forwards in the middle.

Managerial career

Lee managed

POSCO Atoms The Pohang Steelers (Hangul: 포항 스틸러스) are a South Korean professional football club based in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province that compete in the K League 1, the top flight of South Korean football. The Steelers were founded on 1 A ...

from 1987 to 1992 and won two

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 S ...

s. Lee also managed the South Korea national team from 1988 to 1990. He finished the

1988 AFC Asian Cup The 1988 AFC Asian Cup was the 9th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international association football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation is the governing body of asso ...

as a runner-up, and recorded nine wins and two draws without a defeat in the

1990 FIFA World Cup qualification The qualification competition for the 1990 FIFA World Cup was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation — the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), Confederation of African Football (CAF), CONCACAF (North ...

. However, his team lost all three group matches in the

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being Me ...

, struggling at world-class level.

Career statistics

International

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

Honours

Player

Yangzee * Korean National Championship: 1968 *

Korean President's Cup The President's Cup National Football Tournament is a football competition, held by Korea Football Association, for South Korean semi-professional and amateur football clubs. This competition was originally one of major club competitions of Sou ...

: 1968 *

Asian Champion Club Tournament 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 ...

runner-up:

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

POSCO FC * Korean Semi-professional League (Spring): 1975 * Korean National Championship runner-up: 1977 *

: 1974 South Korea *

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 ...

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

AFC Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the continental champion of Asia. It is the second oldest cont ...

runner-up:

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

Individual * Korean FA Best XI: 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974 * Korean FA Player of the Year: 1970 *

Best Player: 1974 * Korean FA Hall of Fame: 2005

Manager

Hanyang University * Korean National Championship: 1983 POSCO Atoms *

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 ...

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

South Korea *

runner-up:

Individual * K League 1 Manager of the Year:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Hoe-taik 1946 births Living people People from Gimpo South Korean footballers South Korea international footballers 1972 AFC Asian Cup players Sportspeople from Gyeonggi Province Pohang Steelers players Pohang Steelers managers Jeonnam Dragons managers South Korean football managers South Korea national football team managers 1988 AFC Asian Cup managers 1990 FIFA World Cup managers Asian Games medalists in football Footballers at the 1966 Asian Games Footballers at the 1970 Asian Games Association football forwards Asian Games gold medalists for South Korea Medalists at the 1970 Asian Games