Kim Kee-hee

When Kim Kee-hee left Seattle Sounders in 2020, it followed a breakdown in talks over a contract extension. In January 2025 he signed with the club again, on a one-year deal.

Kim started out at Daegu FC, making his K League debut in March 2011 in a defeat to Gwangju FC, and spent part of that spell on loan at Qatar's Al-Sailiya. A move to Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors followed in 2013, where he won back-to-back domestic cups. In 2016 Shanghai Shenhua signed him for a fee reported at $6 million; he added the Chinese FA Cup there in 2017.

He joined Seattle Sounders in 2018 on a free transfer as the club won the MLS Cup in 2019. The contract dispute that followed sent him back to South Korea with Ulsan Hyundai, later renamed Ulsan HD, where he stayed for four seasons. Ulsan won three straight league titles and domestic cups during that run, and in 2020 the club also took the AFC Champions League.

He has 23 caps for South Korea without a goal, including six appearances in qualifying for the 2018 World Cup. His bronze medal with the South Korean under-23 side at the 2012 London Olympics carried a practical benefit under national rules: it exempted him from mandatory military service.