South Korea Edge Japan 1-0 for Fourth Straight Asian Games Football Gold

Fourth gold in a row for South Korea

South Korea beat hosts Japan 1-0 in the men’s football final of the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Saturday, Oct. 3, to claim a fourth consecutive gold medal. Swansea City winger Eom Ji-sung scored the decisive goal in the 61st minute at Toyota Stadium in Toyota, Japan, Yonhap News Agency and Olympics.com reported.

The final was the third consecutive Asian Games men’s football title match between the two rivals. South Korea had won the previous two finals and extended that streak against a largely under-21 Japan side that had won the AFC U-23 Asian Cup earlier in 2026.

Eom punishes wasteful hosts

Japan controlled large stretches and created the clearer first-half chances, according to Olympics.com, but failed to convert. After the break, Tottenham Hotspur’s Yang Min-hyeok won the ball on the right and delivered a cross. Japan goalkeeper Rui Araki got a touch but could not clear, and Eom turned past a defender before finishing emphatically with his left foot, Yonhap reported.

Japan continued to press. Hisatsugu Ishii struck the post in the 79th minute, and South Korea had to withstand late crosses to protect the lead. Japan captain Rion Ichihara said afterward that his team had chances and home support but could not produce the result they wanted.

Tournament mark and military exemption

Eom finished the tournament with four goals and three assists and shared the top-scorer honour with Uzbekistan’s Sardorbek Bakhromov, BBC Sport reported. The 24-year-old, one of three over-age players in the squad and a summer World Cup participant, also secured an exemption from South Korea’s mandatory military service granted to Asian Games champions, aside from brief basic training.

Sources: BBC Sport; Yonhap News Agency; Olympics.com.