Yang Hyun-jun → Yang Min-hyuk Who's next? Gangwon FC's 'college graduate rookie' Lee Ji-ho, "National team + best 11 goals in 3 years."
Yang Hyun-jun → Yang Min-hyuk Who's next? Gangwon FC's 'college graduate rookie' Lee Ji-ho, "National team + best 11 goals in 3 years."
Blog Article
"My goal is to become a member of the national team and the best 11 in three years."
Gangwon FC rookie Lee Ji-ho (23) showed off his sharp toes in his K-League debut match. He attracted attention as a "big rookie" for Gangwon FC, who will succeed Yang Hyun-joon (23, Celtic) and Yang Min-hyuk (19, Queen's Park Rangers).
Lee Ji-ho, who was born in 2002, is a "college graduate rookie," which is a rare occurrence in the K-League. After graduating from Korea University, Lee joined Gangwon Province ahead of this season. He is 23 years old and is not allowed to play in the K-League under the U-22 rule. However, Lee confidently started in the opening match of the 2025 season against Daegu FC. Lee also assisted Gabriel in the opening goal in the 43rd minute of the first half.
"This is the moment I have dreamed of for 15 years since I started playing soccer," Lee said after the game. "I am so thankful for what I did in the first 15 years. I am so thankful to people around me. This is not the end of the game. I want to become a better player. My goal is to become a member of the national team and the best 11 players within three years. I have a 2025 goal that I have written in my diary. One of them was to be included in the opening entry. I will tell you about other things later."
Gangwon recently hit rookie players such as Yang Hyun-joon and Yang Min-hyuk. After showing good performance in the team, it successfully advanced to Europe.
Lee Ji-ho said, "Yang Min-hyuk did a great job last year. Lee Sang-hun also played a great role. I want to be Yang Min-hyuk, but I can't be Yang Min-hyuk. I will pioneer my own path and live my own life as the first Lee Ji-ho."
Gangwon coach Chung Kyung-ho expressed expectations. "It's too bad that it's not an U-22 game," Chung said. "I told Lee Sang-hun to make a second Yang Min-hyuk. Lee Sang-hun is taking care of Lee like Yang Min-hyuk did last year. I think he will be okay if he gains confidence. I think it would be good if he plays soccer well."
Lee Ji-ho said, "At some point, I suddenly joined the starting team, trained, and played games. I also thought, 'The coach must have misunderstood my age.' Some say that it would have been better to be 22 years old, but I think that because I am at this age, I can shine like I am now. Although I am older than others, I had more know-how and prepared better. I hope you look forward to it in the future."
He said, "Every year, 먹튀검증 my heart ached so much when I couldn't go to the professional league. I can think of others as a player who easily challenged the professional league because they couldn't see my process. I did my best every year, every moment. I really did my best and came up little by little. If I am hopeful for someone else, this process will be valuable. I will take the lead and create a good path so that more cases like this can occur," and added, "I will work harder with one goal for the team."