Back from Asian Games gold and controversy, Yang Min-hyeok scores first goal for Westerlo

After winning gold at this year’s Asian Games, Yang Min-hyeok wasted little time making his mark in Belgium on Sunday.

The Westerlo forward, who helped the Korean men’s football team win gold at the Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026, scored his first goal in Belgium in an emphatic 5-1 win over Royal Antwerp on Sunday.

Yang entered in the 85th minute, with his team leading 4-1 in the eighth round of the 2026-27 Belgian Pro League season at Het Kuipje.

He struck six minutes into stoppage time on a counterattack. He collected a throw from the goalkeeper near the halfway line and drove forward before cutting inside to beat a defender. He then curled a left-footed shot from the right edge of the penalty arc into the left side of the net.

This marked his first goal in the Belgian league, which came in his third appearance of the season.

Yang left Gangwon FC to join Tottenham Hotspur in Britain in 2025. He later spent time with Queens Park Rangers, Portsmouth and Coventry City before being lent to Westerlo.

Earlier this month, Yang celebrated winning gold at the Asian Games. He had set up Eom Ji-sung for the winner against Japan in the final on Oct. 3.

The celebrations soon gave way to controversy over his comments after the match.

“I didn’t think that the medal […] itself was that important,” he said. “We would get a military exemption [if we won gold], so that was what I focused on while playing.”

He was referring to Korea’s mandatory military service exemption for Asian Games medalists.

All able-bodied men in Korea must complete 18 to 21 months of service under a mandatory draft system. Athletes who finish in third place or higher at the Olympics or win a gold medal at the Asian Games can be assigned to alternative service and need to complete only three weeks of basic training and 544 hours of community service over 34 months.

The footballer’s comments were not well received.

Some people saw his comment as reducing the Asian Games to a route to military exemption and demanded that the rule be changed to no longer allow exemptions for medalists. 

The debate went as far as a public petition posted on the National Assembly website, with politicians such as Minister of National Defense Kang Shin-chul hinting that the ministry’s goal is to “gradually scale back” the military exemption system for athletes and “ultimately abolish it.”

Yang later apologized for his remarks.

Westerlo went on to win 5-1 after Yang’s late goal. The victory extended the club’s winning streak to four matches and lifted it to sixth place with four wins, one draw and three losses.

BY PARK LIN [[email protected]]