A pair of football boots worn by star player Son Heung-min is on display for a charity auction event during the 2022 Korea Football Association festival at Seoul World Cup Stadium on June 6, 2022. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, June 6 (Korea Bizwire) — The football shoes Son Heung-min wore in the final qualifying match for the 2022 Qatar World Cup against Iran in March, were sold at an auction for 16 million won (US$12,780).
The event was held on Monday from 2 p.m. at the northern square of Seoul World Cup Stadium, on the last day of an auction of the national team’s collections, which opened on the 1st, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the 2022 Korea-Japan World Cup.
The football shoes submitted on the day are items that Son wore in the match against Iran and was customized and engraved with the player’s initials. On the side of the soccer shoes, Son’s handwritten autograph was also displayed.
While the bid for the collection, which had been up for auction until the previous day, rose by 100,000 to 500,000 won, the participants of Monday raised the bid by 1 million won each time.
The price of the football shoes, which started at 220,000 won less than two minutes after the auction, exceeded 10 million won.
Lee Jae-ho, a 24-year-old football fan who wore a “Red Devil” short-sleeve T-shirt even though a man surnamed Yoo called for 13 million won, shouted 16 million won without hesitation.
Amid cheers and applause from the audience, Yoo shook his head, and the auction ended with the host shouting 16 million won three times.
Lee, who grabbed football shoes in both hands, even showed Son’s signature camera gesture pose.
Lee, a college student, said, “I participated because I thought it was worth trying after seeing the winning price of Hwang Hee-chan’s soccer shoes earlier,” adding, “I received support from my father, not my money.”
“When I told my father, he agreed by saying that ‘it can be a family heirloom,’” Lee added. “It’s much better to display these football shoes than to spend more than 10 million won on interior work because my family is moving this time.”
“It’s worth it. I’m so happy, Lee said. “I spent a lot of money this time, and it would be great if I had a chance to meet (Son) Heung-min someday.”
Lee, who became the owner of soccer shoes, also received four tickets for the warm-up match against Egypt at the Seoul World Cup Stadium on the 14th.
Lee Jae-ho (L), a 24-year-old football fan, is handed a pair of football boots worn by star player Son Heung-min after winning a charity auction held as part of the 2022 Korea Football Association festival at Seoul World Cup Stadium on June 6, 2022. (Yonhap)
Along with Son’s football shoes, the boots worn by Kim Seung-gyu (Kashiwa Reysol) and signed by him were also exhibited at the auction and sold for 600,000 won.
Jung Ho-young, the buyer of Kim Seung-gyu’s soccer shoes, said, “In addition to these soccer shoes, I participated in the auction every day until the previous day and bought uniforms with autographs of Cho Hyun-woo (Ulsan) and Song Min-kyu (Jeonbuk).”
Jung then said, “I came up from Gimcheon, North Gyeongsang Province every day,” and introduced themself as a big fan of Gimcheon Sangmu of the K League 1.
The proceeds from the charity auction of the Korea Football Association, which completed its six-day schedule, will be donated to the construction cost of new national training center.
The national team uniforms signed by Son and Kim Min-jae (Fenerbahce) the previous day were sold for 6.5 million won and 2.1 million won, respectively.
The next high-priced item was sold for 650,000 won as a football shoe worn by Hwang Hee-chan (Wolverhampton), which came out on June 2nd.
The item was then followed by a uniform (550,000 won) with Hwang Ui-jo (Bordeaux)’s signature, Lee Jae-sung (Mainz)’s signed uniform (410,000 won), and Hwang Hee-chan’s signed uniform (400,000 won).
Cho Hyun-woo and Song Min-kyu’s uniforms, which came out on June 3rd, were sold for 300,000 won and 220,000 won, respectively.
(Yonhap)
