In the end, it was easy; Hwacheon KSPO emerging 3-1 winners against Ho Chi Minh City FC but till the third minute of injury-time in the first half, it was 0-0. That’s when Lee Subin latched on to a deflection and drove through on goal. She sped past NTH Nhung and as Ho Chi Minh City goalkeeper TTK Thanh left her line, Lee scored with a deft placement. Early in the second half, Lee ghosted into the penalty box and fired home a first-timer. Game over.
The 3-1 win for the South Korean league champions – they completed a domestic treble in 2025-26 – on a humid Saturday afternoon sealed a quarter-final berth in the AFC Asian Women’s Champions League. And it happened in the main because their skipper led from the front, literally and metaphorically. Lee scored three goals in the group league.
In two group B matches at the Kishore Bharati Krirangan, a stadium tucked inside a south Kolkata neighbourhood and hemmed by high rises on one side, Hwacheon KSPO came alive in the second half. They trailed East Bengal through Fazila Ikwaput’s 17th minute goal on Wednesday after the Uganda international had exploited their high line but failed to keep her shot on target. That’s when Lee thought they could lose this. Having lost their opening match, it would have left Hwacheon KSPO facing an early exit.
“We were making far too many mistakes, leaving a lot of gaps” Lee told HT. “At half-time, we told each other that if we do not raise out performance, it would be difficult to take full points. We worked on our mistakes in the second half.”
East Bengal had allowed Hwacheon KSPO back in the game after of an error from India goalkeeper Panthoi Chanu leading to an indirect free-kick inside the box. From the melee, Lee equalised. They ran out 4-1 winners but Lee said she wasn’t satisfied.
Following their 0-2 defeat to 4.25 SC on Saturday, East Bengal became the first Indian team to make the quarter-final of the AFC Asian Champions League. “I would give East Bengal three out of five” said Lee.
Hwacheon KSPO began the campaign with a 1-2 defeat to 4.25 SC who are the champions of North Korea. It was the first time women’s football clubs between countries separated by the 38th parallel and who are technically still at war had met since May 2026. Then, Naegohyang Women’s FC beat Suwon FC Women 2-1 in the semi-final.
The semi-finals and the final were held in Suwon, South Korea, with Naegohyang Women’s FC winning the title beating Japan’s Tokyo Verdy Beleza. Even though it isn’t allowed, an exception was made to let the North Korean flag be paraded by the winning team, as per a BBC report. That was the first time North Korea were at the high table of Asian women’s club football.
“It was important simply because winning it would have helped in our aim to make the quarter-final,” said Lee. “A match against a North Korea team is just another football match. For me, there is nothing more than that. Unfortunately, we lost.” Sunday was the first time Lee played a team from North Korea since her under-19 days.
North Korea may have won the under-17 World Cup four times, three more than South Korea. They have won the under-20 World Cup thrice and were runners-up in 2026. North Korea have been Asian women’s champions four times; South Korea’s best finish has been being runners-up, twice. For Lee that does not mean North Korea are better. “I think it’s similar. The under-17 team is strong but it is not like their other teams are better.”
At 31, the deep-lying midfielder who can ghost into the opposition penalty box, Lee has been with this team based in Gangwon Province’s Hwacheon County for 12 years. That’s about an hour’s drive from the Seoul airport, according to the team manager Kim Jeong Hwan who, like Lee, spoke through interpreter Kulvinder Singh. KSPO stands for Korean sports promotion foundation and Kim said the women’s-only club, which runs on state support, has teams for fencing and diving as well.
Unlike in Japan and Australia, the top league in South Korea is not professional. Started in 2009, it has eight teams and has been played in the home-and-away format since 2015. Yet, each team plays 28 matches in the league and including cup competitions, around 34-35 in a season, said Lee.
“There aren’t enough teams for the league to be professional,” said Lee. “Women do not play sport. They are interested in other things.”
For Lee, football happened partly because of Manchester United. More specifically, Park Ji-sung who played for Alex Ferguson’s side for seven years. It had made her a Manchester United supporter, Not anymore, she said. The player she looks up to is Manchester City and Japan midfielder Yui Hasegawa, 29.
“Her match reading and the ability to adjust her game depending on what the team needs is what stands out for me,” said Lee.