The earliest recorded game that bares the closest resemblance to modern-day football was born in Asia.
The Chinese pastime of cuju – which literally means ‘kickball’ and is pronounced tsoo-joo – was played more than 2,000 years ago.
More than half of humanity comes from Asia yet the biggest continent on the planet with a rich history in the sport has not had a commensurate impact on the scoring charts of the world’s most popular football league.
The Premier League has been home to some of the continent’s greatest talents but only one Asian player has ever scored from than 20 times in the history of the Premier League.
There are no prizes for guessing which player tops this particular list but the remaining names may be harder to pluck out of thin air.
List of Asia scorers in the Premier League
6. Kaoru Mitoma (Japan) – 7 goals
5. Lee Chung-yong (South Korea) – 8 goals
4. Shinji Okazaki (Japan) – 14 goals
3. Ki Sung-yueng (South Korea) – 15 goals
2. Park Ji-sung (South Korea) – 19 goals
1. Son Heung min (South Korea) – 100 goals
Tottenham’s Son Heung-min stands alone as the Premier League’s most prolific Asian footballer ever.
The devilishly two-footed forward has been the continent’s leading scorer in England’s top flight since November 2017, barely two years after joining Tottenham from Bayer Leverkusen.
With a century of goals under his belt, Son may well sit atop this particular list for many, many years to come.
The top scoring Asian player in Premier League history is currently Son Heung-min of South Korea, who has scored lots of goals for Tottenham Hotspur as of my knowledge cutoff of September 2021.
Son surpassed the previous record held by former Manchester United player Park Ji-sung, who scored 19 goals during his time in the Premier League.
