Vietnamese Media 'Tren Chi' Analyzes Lee Kang-in's Loss
"Lee Kang-in Is Facing Heavy Economic Penalties"
Vietnamese media reported that Lee Kang-in (23, Paris Saint-Germain) suffered losses amounting to 10 billion KRW due to the 'insubordination' incident involving Son Heung-min (32, Tottenham) during the 2023 Qatar Asian Cup.
On the 21st, the Vietnamese daily 'Tien Chinh' reported, "Lee Kang-in is facing heavy economic penalties as his image has been damaged due to the fight with Son Heung-min, separate from any official disciplinary action by the Korea Football Association, which has not yet been imposed."
KT, which featured Lee Kang-in as the promotional model for the Galaxy S24, faced strong criticism including calls for a boycott, leading to an early termination of the promotion. The photo shows the Lee Kang-in advertisement installed in front of a restaurant in downtown Seoul on the morning of the 18th. [Photo by Yonhap News]
Tien Chinh calculated that Lee Kang-in lost 2.5 billion KRW annually as he could no longer fulfill advertising contracts for telecommunications, chicken, and gaming companies due to the fight with Son Heung-min, explaining, "Not only are well-known companies in Korea involved, but when including other related corporate amounts, the losses from the fight with Son Heung-min could reach 10 billion KRW."
It added, "Lee Kang-in disappeared from the Korean broadcast rights holder's poster promoting PSG's Ligue 1 live broadcasts in France," and stated, "This is evidence that the player's image was severely damaged after being eliminated in the Asian Cup semifinals."
Tien Chinh analyzed, "It is an extremely bad situation, unprecedented in similar cases, that a Korean player performing well in the top five European leagues is excluded from domestic promotions," and "Lee Kang-in's honor in Korea has been virtually destroyed, which will negatively affect his career development."
Meanwhile, on the evening of the 6th, the day before the Asian Cup semifinal, Lee Kang-in had a physical altercation with captain Son Heung-min after rebelling against Son's attempt to stop him from playing table tennis with Seol Young-woo and Jung Woo-young during dinner. The internal conflict within the national team was revealed through British media, leading to calls within the football community for disciplinary action against those involved.
About ten days after the incident, on the 21st, Lee Kang-in issued a second apology stating, "I did something that should never have been done," and "I deeply regret it," and recently went to London, UK, where Son Heung-min is based, to apologize in person.
Son Heung-min accepted Lee Kang-in's apology and released a statement saying, "I will specially take care of Kang-in so that he can grow into a better person and a better player," and "Please forgive Kang-in just this once."
Jeong Hae-seong, the newly appointed head of the Korea Football Association's National Team Strengthening Committee, who is preparing for the World Cup qualifiers against Thailand on March 21 and 26, commented on the reconciliation news between the two, saying, "This is very good news for our national team," and "I thought everything about it positively."
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