"What are the standards?".
The soccer statistics platform Transfermarkt confirmed that South Korean soccer icon Son Heung-min (Tottenham) was excluded from the scoring champions list for the 2021-2022 season in a social media post discussing the records.
The problematic post featured graphics summarizing the Premier League scoring champions over the past 20 seasons. The names were listed by year from Thierry Henry in the 2005-2006 season to Mohamed Salah in the 2024-2025 season.
However, only Salah was mentioned for the 2021-2022 season, despite Son Heung-min being a joint winner. Officially, the scoring champion for the 2021-2022 season was Son Heung-min and Salah, but only one name was listed.
Transfermarkt previously handled joint scoring champions similarly. In the 2010-2011 season, Dimitar Berbatov from Manchester United and Carlos Tevez from Manchester City both shared the top score with 20 goals, but only Tevez was featured in the graphic.
The same was true for the 2018-2019 season. Aubameyang, Mane, and Salah were all joint scoring champions, but only Salah was included in the list.
Ultimately, there is a repeated selective notation that leaves only one representative scoring champion for a specific season. Moreover, Transfermarkt has not disclosed the criteria for compiling this list.
Although it might seem like a simple notation, it could be criticized for lacking respect toward the players. In reality, the 2021-2022 season was a dramatic season.
The 2021-2022 season, in which Son Heung-min became the scoring champion, was a drama in itself. Before the final round of the season, Son Heung-min had 21 goals, while Salah had 22, meaning Salah was one goal ahead. In the final match, Tottenham faced relegation-threatened Norwich City, and Son Heung-min’s teammates concentrated their passes throughout the game to support his scoring challenge.
Ultimately, Son Heung-min, who scored a goal, became the scoring champion. In the final season, both Salah and Son Heung-min ended up as joint scoring champions with 23 goals, but there was a significant difference. Son Heung-min scored 23 goals through field goals without any penalties, while Salah filled 9 goals with penalties.
As a result, Son Heung-min claimed the title of the only "scoring champion without penalties" in Premier League history. This carries even greater significance, as he scored all goals during field play without a single penalty. Son Heung-min is the only player in Premier League history to become the scoring champion without penalty goals.
However, Transfermarkt omitted his name. Particularly, the unclear criteria for representation regarding joint scoring champions need to be resolved.
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