Lee grew up in
Hanam, a city on the outskirts of Seoul. He completed his schooling in Seoul due to the lack of schools with established football programs in Hanam at that time. One of his elementary school classmates was his neighbor and future national teammate
Park Joo-ho. As he was a "late bloomer", Lee was not heavily scouted as a high school senior and spent a gap year training before trying out again the next season. He was eventually accepted into
Chung-Ang University. ==Club career==