Son Heung-min Makes History: 59th International Goal Breaks Cha Bum-kun's All-Time Korean Record

Summary South Korean football icon Son Heung-min has officially etched his name at the very pinnacle of Korean football history. During a friendly match against Uzbekistan held at Yongin Mireu Stadium in Gyeonggi Province, Son netted his 59th career international goal, surpassing the historic record previously held by legendary forward Cha Bum-kun. The breakthrough moment arrived just six minutes into the first half. Awarded a free kick near the penalty arc, Son bypassed the defensive wall with a clinical, low-driven right-footed strike tucked neatly into the bottom right corner of the net. The goal marked Son's 59th goal in his 151st international appearance for the South Korean national team, breaking Cha's long-standing tally of 58 goals in 136 caps and setting a new all-time high for male Korean players in A-matches. In Korean sports culture, surpassing Cha Bum-kun—widely revered as 'Cha Boom' and considered the pioneering trailblazer for Asian footballers in Europe—carries immense symbolic weight. Son's achievement not only solidifies his status as a modern national hero but also underscores a generational passing of the torch at the highest tier of international football. The match also provided breathing room for the national team's interim manager, Robert Moreno. Korea secured a comfortable 2-0 victory after forward Oh Se-hun (Shimizu S-Pulse) sealed the win with a second-half header. The victory closed out a whirlwind four-match slate across September and October for Moreno's squad—often dubbed 'Moreno-ho' in Korean media (using the nautical suffix '-ho' to symbolize the coach steering the national ship). Having recorded two wins, one draw, and one defeat—including a 3-0 win against Ecuador, a 1-4 loss to Uruguay, and a scoreless 0-0 draw against Venezuela—Moreno now heads into a crucial November test likely featuring two away fixtures in the Middle East.