Has anyone ever imagined that Korea could produce an English Premier League Golden boot player? It actually happened in 2022 when Son Heung-Min from Tottenham Hotspur achieved the monumental landmark, which filled the whole nation with football passion and happiness. The existence of a big star, like Son, triggered the Korea Football Association (hereafter KFA) to request to host the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup, from which China withdrew its June 2023 hosting right due to unsettled COVID-19 circumstances (AFC, 14th of May, 2022). When the newly elected President of the Republic of Korea, Yoon Suk-yeol, visited Sangam World Cup Stadium for the 20th anniversary match of the 2002 FIFA Korea/Japan World Cup, KFA President Chung Mong-kyu and KFA Vice President, the legendary Korean football player Lee Young-pyo, who is currently the CEO of K-League 1's Gangwon FC, proposed hosting the Asian Cup amidst the `Sonny Effect`.
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