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Son Heung-min nominated for MLS Goal of the Year

Published: 21 Oct. 2025, 10:59

Son Heung-min gestures during the warm up before a match between Korea and Brazil at the Seoul World Cup Stadium in western Seoul on Oct. 10. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Son Heung-min’s sensational free kick for Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) has been short-listed for the 2025 MLS Goal of the Year award. The 33-year-old Korean forward, who joined Major League Soccer (MLS) in August, made the 16-player short list announced by the league on Monday.

The MLS office released the full list of nominees and their goals on its official website, which also opened fan voting through Oct. 29.

Son’s nomination comes for his spectacular right-footed free kick scored in the 30th-round match against FC Dallas on Aug. 24, a game that ended 1-1. The goal was also his first in MLS since moving from Tottenham Hotspur.

Among the other nominees are Son’s LAFC teammate Denis Bouanga and Lionel Messi of Inter Miami. The annual Goal of the Year award, introduced in 1996, has never been won by an Asian player. LAFC has also yet to produce a winner, meaning Son could make history as both the first Asian and the first LAFC player to claim the honor.

Son Heung-min of the Los Angeles Football Club advances the ball against the Colorado Rapids in the second half at Dick's Sporting Goods Park on Oct. 18 in Commerce City, Colorado. [GETTY IMAGES/YONHAP]

After a decade with Tottenham in the English Premier League, Son made the move to Los Angeles in August and has quickly adapted to life in MLS. He has scored nine goals in 10 appearances in his debut season, becoming a key attacking presence for the Western Conference club.

Son will now turn his focus to the postseason. LAFC finished the regular season third in the Western Conference with 60 points. MLS runs a 34-round regular season followed by the MLS Cup Playoffs, featuring eight teams from each conference. The top seven in each conference qualify directly, while the eighth and ninth seeds meet in a wild-card match for the final spot.

In the first round of the playoffs, LAFC will face sixth-place Austin FC, with 47 points, in a best-of-three series. The conference semifinals, conference finals, and the MLS Cup final will all be single-elimination matches.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY PIH JU-YOUNG [[email protected]]