The breakthrough yearThe year he turned 6, he first made his face known on KBS N Sports’ Fly Shoot Dori 3. Former national team player Yoo Sang-chul coached the team, and Shoot Dori became a nickname that followed him afterward.
In 2011, he joined the Valencia youth academy. The year he turned 17, he made his Valencia first-team debut in the Copa del Rey against Ebro, the youngest Korean to debut in an official match in European professional football.
In January 2019, he made his La Liga debut, and in May Valencia won the Copa del Rey for the first time in 11 years. In June of that year, he was runner-up at the FIFA U-20 World Cup and received the Golden Ball for the tournament’s best player. In September he debuted for the national team and scored his first La Liga goal.
In 2020, he made his first La Liga opening-day start and recorded an assist. In summer 2021, he left Valencia for Mallorca. In December 2022, he started against Portugal at the Qatar World Cup, and South Korea reached the round of 16.
In 2023, he joined Paris Saint-Germain and won gold at the Hangzhou Asian Games in October. In January 2024, he scored the winning goal in the French Super Cup, and in February he visited Son Heung-min to apologize over the altercation at the Asian Cup.
In 2025, PSG won the Champions League for the first time in the club’s history. Lee did not play in the final.
In 2026, South Korea went out in the group stage of the World Cup, he moved to Atlético Madrid, and he scored in his La Liga debut for the club.
Lee Kang-in (born Feb 19, 2001) first made his face known on KBS N Sports’ Fly Shoot Dori 3 in 2007, the year he turned 6, and made his Valencia first-team debut on Oct 31, 2018, the year he turned 17. In 2019, the year he turned 18, he won the Golden Ball at the FIFA U-20 World Cup.
Ages are by calendar year (the year minus the birth year), birthdays aside.