Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) midfielder Lee Kang-in will join the South Korean men’s Asian Games football team in the middle of the group stage in China, the sport’s national governing body announced Friday.
The Korea Football Association (KFA) said PSG agreed to release Lee for South Korea after their UEFA Champions League group stage match Tuesday. Lee is then scheduled to leave France on Wednesday for Hangzhou, China, to join South Korea’s under-24 squad at the Asian Games.
The KFA said the agreement with the French club was reached late Thursday night.
Coached by Hwang Sun-hong, South Korea will open Group E action against Kuwait on Tuesday, and then play Thailand on Thursday and Bahrain on Sept. 24.
All three South Korean matches will kick off at 7:30 p.m. (local time) at Jinhua Sports Centre Stadium in Jinhua, south of Hangzhou.
Lee will miss the Kuwait match and is unlikely to be available against Thailand.
The Asian Games men’s football tournament isn’t part of the FIFA international window, and clubs aren’t required to release their players.
According to the KFA, PSG had initially offered on Wednesday to release Lee for the Asian Games if South Korea would agree to let the French club hold on to the player a little longer before the Asian Football Confederation Asian Cup tournament in January in Qatar.
By Thursday, though, PSG decided to let Lee play at the Asian Games without any preconditions.
South Korea will try to win their third straight gold medal in men’s football.
Source: Yonhap News Agency