Lee Kwan-Woo (born 25 February 1978) is a South Korean retired professional footballer who played as a midfielder.
Early life
Born in Seoul, Lee graduated from Chunghwa Elementary School, Hanyang Middle School, Hanyang Technical High School, and Hanyang University.
Playing career
Nicknamed "Sirius" and dubbed "Kwanquelme" by his fans, Lee began his professional football career in the K-League by joining the community based club, Daejeon Citizen in 2000. During his stay in Daejeon, he established himself as a fan favorite with his accurate passes and long shots. In addition, his record of 22 goals and 18 assists made him an icon amongst the Purple Crew; however, in July 2006, he left Daejeon and joined its rival club, Suwon Samsung Bluewings.[1] Before joining the Bluewings, he suffered a knee injury in a car crash. He almost retired but came back strong for Suwon and even made a national squad.
After a poor seasonal campaign in 2005, the Bluewings aimed to rebuild their squad during the transfer window, and brought in Lee Kwan-Woo along with others notably Baek Ji-hoon for the 2006 season.[2] This proved to be a vital move, as the Bluewings finished the season as runners-up despite being one of the top favorites. At the start of the 2007 campaign, he was given the armband for the Suwon Bluewings,[3] but lost his captaincy to his teammate Song Chong-gug at the start of the 2008 season.[4] Nevertheless, his keen passing and ball distribution remain invaluable to the Suwon Bluewings.
Lee Kwan-woo worked as a youth coach in Suwon Bluewings from 2015 to 2017.[7] And He has served as a head coach since 2018 under Kim Dae-eui who is the football manager of Suwon FC.[8]
