Son Heung-min's 58th Goal Ties Cha Bum-kun for Most A-Match Goals… He Doubts It Was His, Team Loses 1-4

Korea lost 1-4 to Uruguay on September 28. The consolation goal in the 35th minute of the second half was credited to Son Heung-min, tying him with Cha Bum-kun at 58 goals. Son said he did not feel the ball touch him.

Translated from Korean with AI assistance. Read the original. Sources and original publication dates are retained.

The match kicked off at 8 p.m. on September 28 at Seoul World Cup Stadium. By halftime the score was already 0-3. In the 35th minute of the second half, Lee Kang-in sent a left-footed cross from the right flank and the ball went into the goal. But what people talked about that night was not the score but who owned that one goal.

Son Heung-min's 58th goal, a consolation strike in the 35th minute of the second half of a 1-4 defeat

Stock photo, not a photo taken of any specific person or match in the article — Stock photo · Not an actual scene of any person or match mentioned in the article / Photo: Pexels (Jeffry Surianto)

Yonhap News reported that Korea conceded 3 goals in the first half alone and lost 1-4 to Uruguay. The Korea Football Association (KFA) and Ilgan Sports recorded the goal as scored by Son Heung-min with an assist from Lee Kang-in (25, Atletico Madrid). Last July, Lee Kang-in left Paris Saint-Germain for up to 40 million euros including options.

Son had 57 goals in 148 matches up to the previous match against Ecuador. Ilgan Sports put his record at the end of the match at 149 A-matches, 58 goals and reported that he became joint first with Cha Bum-kun for most goals for the men's national team (as of 22:00 on 2026.09.28). This tie holds only if the goal in question is counted as Son's.

Son Heung-min interview: "I don't think it's my goal," and different bodies list different scorers

Sports Kyunghyang reported that in his post-match interview on the 28th, Son said he did not feel the ball touch his foot and that "I don't think it's my goal." He added, "If it's recorded as my goal, I think it would actually feel awkward." The heavy defeat came up before personal records. He said the shortcomings that were exposed must be fixed in the remaining matches.

Joongang Ilbo reported that on the 28th the FIFA website recorded the goal as Lee Kang-in's and the KFA recorded it as Son's. But in the FIFA match review in the early hours of the 29th, it was listed as Son's goal.

Source	80th-minute scorer	Final score	Time checked
KFA, Yonhap News, Ilgan Sports	Son Heung-min (assist: Lee Kang-in)	1-4	Reported 2026.09.28
FIFA website (per Joongang Ilbo report)	Lee Kang-in	—	Reported 2026.09.28
FIFA match review	Son Heung-min	1-4	As of 02:00 on 2026.09.29
Page affiliated with the Uruguayan Football Association	Lee Kang-in	2-3	Checked 2026.09.29
Some Newsis articles	—	—	Listed as 40th minute of the second half and 159 matches (body text says 149 matches)

Cha Bum-kun's record of 58 goals: 136 matches vs. 149 matches

By KFA count, Cha Bum-kun's (73) national team record is 136 matches, 58 goals. Son took 149 matches to reach the same 58 goals, 13 more. Dividing goals by matches gives Cha 0.43 goals per match and Son 0.39.

Rank	Player	Goals	Notes
1	Cha Bum-kun	58 goals	Includes 2 Olympic qualifier goals
2	Son Heung-min	56 goals	Tallied on July 1; later reports put him at 57 goals after the Ecuador match and 58 goals after the Uruguay match
3	Hwang Sun-hong	50 goals	—
4	Park Yi-cheon	36 goals	Includes 1 Olympic qualifier goal
5	Lee Dong-gook, Kim Jae-han	33 goals	Joint 5th

Cha Bum-kun's 58 goals also vary depending on how they are counted. The table above is a snapshot the KFA released on July 1, 2026. The KFA records room says these 58 goals include 2 goals from 1976 Olympic qualifiers, and that the record FIFA approved in 2000 was 55 goals. We could not confirm the details of the remaining 1 goal in the 3-goal difference.

Son Heung-min's salary is $11.15 million, age 34, 2nd in MLS

Son was born on July 8, 1992, and on the day of the match he was 34 years old. He debuted at Hamburger SV in 2010, passed through Bayer Leverkusen (2013) and Tottenham Hotspur (2015), and moved to LAFC in 2025. His A-match debut came against Syria in December 2010, and his first goal came against India in January 2011. The transfer fee was reported as $26.5 million, but the club did not disclose the amount.

Rank	Player	Guaranteed compensation (USD)
1	Lionel Messi	28,333,333
2	Son Heung-min	11,152,852
3	Rodrigo De Paul	9,688,320

According to data from the MLS Players Association (MLSPA) dated May 12, 2026, Son's guaranteed compensation is $11,152,852. That is his base salary of $10,368,750 plus guaranteed amounts such as a signing bonus. The gap with first-place Messi is $17,180,481, meaning Messi earns about 2.5 times as much. Endorsement income and performance bonuses are not included.

There has been no announcement that the official goal has been revoked. Son's remarks are also his own account of whether he touched the ball. It has not yet been confirmed whether the FIFA listing was revised after the fact or whether Uruguay's 2-3 listing will be corrected. The figure of 149 matches is also a number from multiple reports that we could not directly verify against the KFA's career table.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. How old is Son Heung-min?

Born on July 8, 1992, he was 34 on the day of the Uruguay match. He currently plays as a forward for MLS side LAFC and captains the national team.

Q. Is Son Heung-min's 58th goal an official record?

The KFA and the FIFA match review as of 02:00 on the 29th record it as Son's goal. However, Joongang Ilbo reported that on the 28th the FIFA website listed it as Lee Kang-in's, and a page affiliated with the Uruguayan Football Association also lists Lee Kang-in. There has been no announcement that the goal was revoked.

Q. How many goals is Cha Bum-kun's record for most A-match goals?

By KFA count, it is 58 goals in 136 matches. This record includes 2 goals from 1976 Olympic qualifiers, and the KFA records room also notes that the record FIFA approved in 2000 was 55 goals.

Related official sites

Korea Football Association — Official website where you can check national team match results and schedules
Korea Football Association records — Explains the most A-match goals ranking and the counting basis for Cha Bum-kun's record
LAFC — Official website of Son Heung-min's club

Featured image · Stock photo · Not an on-site photo of the match in the article · Photo composite · Photo: Wikimedia Commons (JukoFF), CC BY-SA 4.0 · Photo: Wikimedia Commons (Ujishadow), CC BY-SA 4.0 · Photo: Wikimedia Commons (Crofab), CC BY-SA 3.0