Singer Lee Chae-yeon is leaving SBS’ women’s soccer variety show “Kick a Goal” after the current season, she announced on November 4.
According to OSEN, Lee shared the news herself through her personal social media, writing, “I will be leaving ‘Kick a Goal’ after this season.” The announcement brings an end to a run that began when she joined the show’s FC Top Girl team in May 2024.
Looking back on her time on the show, Lee wrote that she remembers trying hard because she wanted to do well, feeling frustrated when things did not go her way, and rejoicing greatly even at small moments of growth on the pitch. “Just being absorbed in something and sweating together with others became a driving force that kept me alive,” she wrote.
“As the youngest of Top Girl, I received so much love and affection, and so much consideration in particular,” she wrote, adding that she feels her own ambition — wanting to do and achieve so much — was never fully repaid despite all the care she received, and that the feeling will stay with her for a long time. She thanked her Top Girl teammates, including Rina, Yubin, Yujeong, Seungyeon, Luna, and Boram, as well as the show’s production staff, directors, and coaches, saying a page of her life had burned brightly thanks to all of them.
Lee joined FC Top Girl, one of the celebrity teams competing on “Kick a Goal,” in May 2024, and has played as a member for roughly two and a half years. The SBS program, known in Korean as “Goal Strikers,” pits celebrity women’s soccer teams against one another in regular league-style matches. A former member of project girl group IZ*ONE, Lee has pursued a solo singing career alongside her variety show appearances.
“I am wrapping up my time as a player, but I will carry the happy memories and keep living,” she wrote, adding that she still has much she wants to show and achieve as a singer. She closed her message with a farewell to the program: “I love you so much, ‘Kick a Goal.’”
