After draining a batch of players from the national football team, the 41-year-old Li Tongguo is finally retiring

Screenshot of Li Tongguo's social media.

On October 26, Beijing time, Lee Tong-kook, a South Korean veteran who currently plays for Jeonbuk Hyundai in the K-League, announced that he will officially retire after this season to end his 23-year career.

Li Tongguo wrote on his personal social media: "At the end of this season full of regret and gratitude, I have decided to leave the stadium where I have devoted my whole life. This decision was something I came up with after a long period of reflection, retirement is not the end, but a new beginning. I am so grateful for having so many people who have encouraged and supported me over the past 23 years. Although I can't express my gratitude directly to everyone, I will always remember it. ”

Li Tongguo, 41, is one of the "evergreen trees" of Asian football. His career began in 1998, after graduating from high school, Li Tongguo joined POHANG Steel, and over the next three years, he gradually grew into the main force of the team. In the 2000–01 season, Lee was briefly loaned to Bundesliga side Werder Bremen.

Due to his military service in 2003, Lee Tong-kook served for Gwangju Sangmu Undead Bird for two years, and in 2005 he returned to POHANG Iron and Steel. In January 2007, Li Tongguo stayed in The Ocean again and joined Middlesbrough in the Premier League. In the summer of 2008, Lee Tong-kook returned to South Korea to join Seongnam-il and Tenma. In early 2009 he moved again to Jeonbuk Hyundai. Since then, he has helped Jeonbuk win 7 K-League titles.

In the AFC Champions League, Li Tongguo has repeatedly performed well against Chinese Super League teams, and he is also known to more Chinese fans.

In terms of the national team, Lee Tong-kook accompanied South Korea to the World Cup in France in 1998. He substituted home for a match against the Netherlands and became the youngest player in South Korea's history to play in a World Cup match. In the 2000 Asian Cup, Li Tongguo scored 6 goals and was elected the top scorer of the tournament. Since then, he has missed the World Cup in Japan and South Korea and the World Cup in Germany. At the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, he was again named to the national team squad.

It can be said that Lee Tong-kook is one of the witnesses to the gradual rise of Korean football. Most of his contemporaries, asian players, have long since faded out of the field. At the age of 41, he can still contribute to the team, and Li Tongguo's love and professionalism for football are commendable. (End)

Source: China News Network