'25-week dominance' Lee Kang-in tops the list again, but Son Heung-min's votes surged threefold! Regaining second place for the first time in 120 weeks — 'What exactly happened?'

*This content was translated by AI.

Lee Kang-in (25, Atletico Madrid) continued his dominance. However, a more noticeable change occurred this week in the StarRanking: fans' votes for Son Heung-min (34, LA FC) surged by more than three times within just one week.

In the StarRanking Star Sports Male 62nd vote, held from 3:01 p.m. on August 27 to 3:00 p.m. on September 3, Lee Kang-in received the highest number of votes at 14,608. Having first reached the top spot in the 38th vote, Lee has maintained his position for an impressive 25 consecutive weeks, proving himself as the most popular male sports star.

His strong performances continued to back up his popularity. After leaving Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and joining Atletico, Lee made his first start of the voting period on the 30th (Korean time) in the third round of the 2026–2027 Spanish La Liga against Sevilla. Just four minutes into the match, he assisted Alex Baena's opening goal.

This was Lee's first assist in a regular league match since joining Atletico. Having scored his debut goal in the season opener against Malaga, Lee recorded one goal and one assist within just three matches of the season start. In the Sevilla game, he played until the 27th minute of the second half, achieving a pass success rate of 94% (30/32) and receiving an 8.0 rating from football statistics platform FootMob. Atletico also secured a 3-1 victory, remaining unbeaten in their first three matches (two wins, one draw).

There was also a notable change in rankings after a long time. Son Heung-min (34, LA FC) rose to second place with 11,235 votes, surpassing Heo Woong (33, Busan KCC), who received 4,486 votes. In the previous 61st vote, Son had placed third with 3,536 votes, but within just one week, his vote count increased by a factor of 3.2.

This marks the first time since the StarRanking began separating male and female categories in the sixth week of June last year that Son Heung-min has ranked second or higher in the Star Sports category. Including the period when men and women were voted together, this is exactly his second-place finish for the first time in 120 weeks since the 98th vote in May 2024.

Additionally, it has been ten weeks since a second-place candidate received over 10,000 votes — last seen in the 52nd vote (June 18–25). In that vote, Kim Do-young (23, KIA Tigers) received 10,018 votes and finished second behind Lee Kang-in.

Recently, Son Heung-min has failed to score in seven consecutive matches in Major League Soccer (MLS), leading to his frequent exclusion from the starting lineup. As a result, Son announced that he will discontinue his fashion brand 'NOS7', which he launched in 2022, by the end of this year. In response, fans rallied behind Son, supporting his commitment to football despite nearing retirement.

Meanwhile, Kim Do-young, who is challenging for the KBO's youngest single-season record of 40 home runs, held fourth place with 2,050 votes. Fifth place went to Lee Jung-hoo (28, San Francisco Giants), who received 1,390 votes.

StarRanking is a system where fans directly vote for their favorite stars via the StarNews website to determine rankings. Selected stars receive various special benefits based on the voting results.

Recently, StarRanking significantly expanded its candidate pool, intensifying competition among fans. Starting from the 49th vote, five new candidates were added: Oh Hyun-kyu (25, Besiktas), Cho Gue-sung (28, Midtjylland), and Lee Seung-woo (28, Jeonbuk) in football; Noh Si-hwan (26, Hanwha Eagles) and Koo Ja-cheol (33, Samsung Lions) in baseball.

Previously, the list included Lee Kang-in, Son Heung-min, Hwang Hee-chan (30, Schalke), Kim Min-jae (30, Bayern Munich), Yang Min-hyuk (20, Westerlo) in football; Kim Do-young, Yang Hyeon-jong (38, KIA), Ryu Hyun-jin (39, Hanwha), Kim Ha-seong (31, Atlanta), Lee Jung-hoo, and Kim Hye-seong (27, LA Dodgers) in baseball; Heo Woong and Heo Hun (31, KCC) in basketball; Heo Su-bong (28, Hyundai Capital) in volleyball; and Woo Sang-hyuk (30, Yongin City Hall) in track and field. With the addition of new candidates, a total of 20 stars are now engaged in fierce competition.

The StarRanking Male Sports 63rd vote will take place from 3:01 p.m. on September 3 to 3:00 p.m. on September 10.

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*This content was translated by AI.