Approval Rating 70.7%... Son Heung-min Tops 'Korean Sports Stars Who Shined' for 8 Consecutive Years

Lee Kang-in, Shin Yubin, An Seyoung, Oh Sangwook 2nd to 5th
Kim Yeji Praised by Musk Ranks 7th

Son Heung-min (Tottenham), the 'captain' of the South Korean national football team who is active in the English Premier League (EPL), has been selected as the 'Most Outstanding Korean Sports Star of the Year' for the eighth consecutive year.

On the 16th, Korea Gallup announced the results of the selection of the most outstanding Korean sports players of the year, conducted from November 22 to 25 among 1,741 people aged 13 and older nationwide (excluding Jeju). Respondents were free to choose up to two players each, and as a result, Son Heung-min took first place for the eighth consecutive year with an overwhelming support of 70.7%.

Soccer player Son Heung-min. Photo by Yonhap News

In the Korea Gallup survey, Son Heung-min first appeared in the rankings in 2013 at 8th place and has firmly held the top spot for eight consecutive years from 2017 to this year. Son Heung-min, a key forward for Tottenham, was the joint top scorer in the 2021-2022 EPL season and has recorded double-digit goals for eight consecutive seasons since the 2016-2017 season, earning recognition as a world-class attacker. On the 16th (Korean time), he scored one goal and made two assists in a match against Southampton, breaking Tottenham’s all-time assist record (68 assists). After the match, Son Heung-min received a jersey from the club featuring the number '68' and his image as a gift.

Following Son Heung-min, the second place went to football player Lee Kang-in (12.7%), who plays for Paris Saint-Germain in France. From third place onward, many Paris Olympic medalists ranked. Third place was 'Ppiyaki' Shin Yu-bin (Korean Air, 10.4%), who won bronze medals in mixed doubles and women's team table tennis at the Paris Olympics. Also, An Se-young (Samsung Life Insurance, 8.2%), the gold medalist in women’s singles badminton at the Paris Olympics, and Oh Sang-wook (Daejeon Metropolitan City Hall, 8.0%), a two-time men’s sabre fencing champion, took fourth and fifth places respectively.

Other top 10 names included national football team defender Kim Min-jae (Munich, 6.9%), shooter Kim Ye-ji (5.3%), praised by Elon Musk, archer Kim Woo-jin (Cheongju City Hall, 5.2%), who won five Olympic gold medals, footballer Hwang Hee-chan (Wolverhampton, 2.9%), and female volleyball player Kim Yeon-koung (Heungkuk Life, 2.5%).

A notable point in this year’s survey is that no baseball players made it into the top 10. Lee Jung-hoo (San Francisco, 2.4%), Ryu Hyun-jin (Hanwha, 2.4%), Kim Do-young (KIA, 2%), and Kim Ha-seong (San Diego, 1.1%) received more than 1% of votes but did not enter the top 10. Regarding this, Korea Gallup explained, "Baseball was not a Paris Olympic event this year, and the performances of overseas players were not prominent. Instead, table tennis, badminton, fencing, shooting, and archery players who performed well at the Olympics were included. The entry of athletes from sports other than football and baseball into the upper ranks was significantly influenced by performances in world competitions such as the Olympics or international matches."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.