Background and career
Lee Kang-in (Korean: 이강인; born 19 February 2001) is a South Korean professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or winger for La Liga club Atlético Madrid and the South Korea national team.
A product of Valencia's youth academy, Lee made his professional debut at the age of 17 in 2018, becoming the youngest South Korean footballer to debut professionally in Europe. In his debut season, he won the Copa del Rey, before making his UEFA Champions League debut in his second professional season. Lee joined Mallorca in 2021, before joining French side Paris Saint-Germain in 2023. With PSG, he won three Ligue 1 titles and two Coupes de France, including two UEFA Champions League titles back-to-back in 2025 and 2026, with the former being part of a continental treble. This made Lee the first Asian, in global, professional football history to ever win multiple UEFA Champions League titles. Along with compatriot Cha Bum-kun, he is one of the two Asian players to have scored in a European final, scoring in the 2025 UEFA Super Cup.
In 2019, Lee won the Asian Young Footballer of the Year, the same year that he won the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup's Golden Ball award. Lee's team finished runner-up during the event. He later made his senior debut for South Korea in September 2019, representing his nation's squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, 2023 AFC Asian Cup and 2026 World Cup.
