[Sports Chosun Reporter Kim Dae-sik] Son Heung-min has been ranked lower than a Premier League player who scored just one goal this season. Kim Min-jae received a rating worse than a struggling Japanese winger, and Lee Kang-in is expected to be completely left off the list.
On May 11 (local time), Fox Sports released its ranking of the top 75 to 51 players participating in the 2026 North America World Cup, with the top 50 to be revealed later. Earlier on May 4, the network had published the rankings for positions 100 to 76. Both lists have drawn heavy criticism due to questionable selection criteria.
From a Korean perspective, the rankings appeared to disregard Korean football. Son Heung-min, the captain of the South Korean national team, was placed at 81. While being included in the top 100 of the world’s greatest tournament is an achievement for a player from an underdog football nation, Son’s skill and star power warrant a much higher spot. For comparison, The Athletic, a trusted British sports outlet, ranked Son 37th in its own World Cup top 100.
Fox Sports offered only a brief mention for Son, simply noting, “After a decade in the Premier League with Tottenham Hotspur, Son is now in his first full season with LA. He is South Korea’s all-time appearance leader.” Rather than highlighting his performances, the description read like a basic profile.
Even more controversially, Kim Min-jae was rated below Kaoru Mitoma, the Japanese winger who has scored just three league goals this season for Brighton. Mitoma was ranked 94th, while Kim came in at 98th. Kim played a key role in Bayern Munich’s Bundesliga title win, and despite initially being placed on the transfer list, the club has since decided against selling him. Meanwhile, Lee Kang-in, a PSG midfielder, was not included in the rankings at all, suggesting he was never even considered.
The second batch of rankings, released on May 11, was even more shocking, showcasing a blatant undervaluation of Korean talent. Gabriel Martinelli, who has managed only one league goal for Arsenal this season, was placed 74th. Hypothetically, if Son Heung-min were playing for Arsenal, he would likely be the team’s star player, not a one-goal contributor.
Sadio Mané, who has tallied 13 goals and 9 assists in 33 games for Al Nassr, was ranked 51st—the highest among those revealed so far. This ranking seems hard to justify, as a Saudi league player is placed above PSG’s starting center-back duo of Marquinhos (66th) and Willian Pacho (56th). It might have been more reasonable to select João Félix, who has been tearing up the Saudi league with 26 goals and 18 assists in 42 matches. Local fans’ reactions to Fox Sports’ rankings have been overwhelmingly negative.