Lee Chung-yong

Lee Chung-yong (Korean: 이청용; Hanja: 李青龍; Korean pronunciation: [i.tɕʰʌŋ.joŋ]; born 2 July 1988) is a South Korean footballer who plays as a winger for K League 1 club Ulsan Hyundai and is a South Korean international.

He is nicknamed "Blue Dragon", which is a literal translation of his given name "Chung-yong". He joined in the 2004 season and ever since his early debut at the age of 18 for the South Korean side FC Seoul in the 2006 season of K League, Lee has gathered much attention from domestic football fans of South Korea in general, particularly because in South Korean football, where new players mostly make their entrance into professional clubs through a draft system, dropping out of middle school to sign a contract with a top division football club was a very rare case.

In January 2009, The Times named Lee as one of the top 50 rising stars in football.

Club Career

FC Seoul

In 2003, FC Seoul, then known as Anyang LG Cheetahs in its modern incarnation, then manager Cho Kwang-rae began focusing on developing a youth academy within the team. Lee, who, at the time, was attending Dobong Middle School caught the eye of a scout and manager Cho decided to attend his match. After watching only the first half, he was certain Lee had a massive potential, and decided to sign him on the spot. Subsequently, Lee dropped out of the school and joined FC Seoul. Dropping out of middle school could mean a lot later in his life since Korea does not draft middle school dropouts for its military. FC Seoul at the time signed a handful of youngsters this way, with the most prominent ones being Lee Chung-yong himself, Ko Yo-han, Koh Myong-jin and Song Jin-hyung. He was a Substitute in the 2004 League Cup, In 2006, he debuted in the K League. For the next several years, Lee honed his skills in the FC Seoul reserves alongside close friend and international teammate Ki Sung-yueng.

In 2007, Senol Gunes, famous for coaching the third-placed Turkey national squad in the 2002 FIFA W

This page also has a version in other languages :  Ли Чхон Ён (russian)