Many countries are bidding farewell to their legends at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, as Lionel Messi (Argentina), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Mohamed Salah (Egypt), Sadio Mané (Senegal), and James Rodríguez (Colombia) will almost certainly suit up for the final time at the world’s biggest tournament. South Korea’s captain Heung-Min Son could also be among that list, as he’ll turn 38 during the 2030 World Cup.
Arguably the greatest Asian footballer in history, Son will shepherd the Taegeuk Warriors into the World Cup with relatively high expectations, as South Korea produced its second-best performance ever at the 2022 World Cup and, late in 2025, it reached its highest mark in the FIFA World Rankings since 2005.
Son has been the Taegeuk Warriors’ top goalscorer in two separate World Cups, as he shared the team’s top scorer award with Ja-Cheol Koo and Keun-Ho Lee in 2014 and claimed it solo in 2018. He’s hoping to become the seventh player to lead his country in scoring at three different World Cups. Below, I’ll break down the DraftKings Sportsbook odds for South Korea’s leading goalscorer at the 2026 World Cup.
South Korea Top Goalscorer Odds
Heung Min Son (+225)
Oh Hyeon-gyu (+600)
Kang-In Lee (+650)
Gue-sung Cho (+700)
Hee-Chan Hwang (+800)
No South Korea Goalscorer (+900)
Jae-Sung Lee (+1400)
Bae Jun-ho (+1600)
Ji-sung Eom (+1800)
Yang Hyun-jun (+2000)
Paik Seung-Ho (+2000)
Hwang In-beom (+3500)
Min-Jae Kim (+5000)
Jens Castrop (+6500)
Who will be South Korea’s leading goalscorer? Pick, best bet
Son didn’t score during the 2022 World Cup, but he was the team’s top scorer during the 2024 Asian Cup, in which the Taegeuk Warriors made it all the way to the semifinals before falling to Jordan. In that tournament, he scored three goals to pip Kang-In Lee by one, and Hwang In-beom, Hee-Chan Hwang, Jeong Woo-yeong, and Cho each scored one. Then, during the World Cup qualifying campaign, he not only led all South Koreans but finished second overall behind Qatar’s Almoez Ali, scoring 10 goals in 13 matches. While he started on the left wing in a majority of his qualifying matches, Hong Myun-bo played him as the lone striker in the Taegeuk Warriors’ most recent friendly against Austria. He’s also predominantly played centrally for Los Angeles FC, and though he hasn’t scored yet this season, he has notched eight assists.
For the World Cup, I’d expect him to play on the left, given that he played there in his most successful seasons with Tottenham Hotspur and both Oh and Cho play predominantly as strikers with their respective clubs (Oh for Beşiktaş and Cho for Midtjylland). In general, I’m not overly concerned about Son’s not scoring in the MLS, given that he’s attempted nearly as many shots per 90 minutes as he did in his first 10 appearances in 2025, when he scored nine goals. For value, though, I’d bank on his not getting as many shot opportunities on the wing in Hong’s 4-2-3-1, and given that he plays against lower-level competition than either Oh or Cho (per Opta’s latest power rankings, the Danish Superliga is the 11th-strongest league in the world, with the Turkish Süper Lig 16th and the MLS merely 19th), I’m more impressed by Oh’s six goals in 13 matches in Turkey. That’s not to mention Kang-In Lee, who hasn’t started much at PSG but faces stiff competition in Ousmane Dembélé and Desiré Doué for his role. I’m also not convinced that Son can play every minute, given that South Korea will play two of its matches at high elevation in Guadalajara, so I’ll lean towards Oh to emerge as the Taegeuk Warriors’ main man.
