The main force of the Serie A + Bundesliga double championship, Kim Min-jae "crowns Asia"

The reporter reported coldly Despite missing five Bundesliga games later in the season due to Achilles tendonitis, the 28-year-old South Korean centre-back set an Asian football record when he lifted the Bundesliga champion's "salad plate" at the Allianz Arena last Saturday. After winning the Serie A title in Napoli two years ago, Kim Min-jae won the Bundesliga title, becoming the second Asian player to win two different league titles in the five major leagues after Shinji Kagawa.

Before Kim, the first Asian player to win the top five leagues was Japanese football legend Yasuhiko Okutera, who won the Bundesliga with Cologne in 1977/78. Ali Daei (Bayern, 1998/99 Bundesliga winners) and Park Ji-sung (2006/07, 2007/08, 2008/09, 2010/11 Premier League champions) extended Asia's top five league titles to Iranian and South Korean players. Hidetoshi Nakata is the first Asian player to win the Serie A title (2000/01), while Paris' Lee Gang-in (2023/24 and 2024/25) is the first Asian player to win the Ligue 1 title.

Kim Min-jae's Bundesliga title this season means that 15 Asian players have won the top five league titles in 47 years, with a total of 22 trophies. If Inter defeat Napoli to defend their Serie A title this season, Iranian striker Taremi will be the 16th Asian player to win the top five league titles, and it will also be the 23rd Asian player to win the top five league titles. Among them are Park Ji-sung (4 Premier League titles), Shinji Kagawa (2 Bundesliga titles, 1 Premier League title), Lee Gang-in (2 Ligue 1 titles) and Kim Min-jae (1 Serie A and 1 Bundesliga title).

Shinji Kagawa is the first Asian player to win a different league title in the top five leagues, but only in 2011/12 did he win the trophy in the top three leagues. With 17 starts in the first half of the 2010/11 season and 16 in the second half due to injury, he made just 17 starts for Manchester United in 2012/13. Kim's predecessor, Park Ji-sung, won four Premier League titles, only in 2008/09 was a regular and the other three were rotational or substitute players. Hidetoshi Nakata, Asia's first Serie A champion that year, made only five starts in the championship season.

Kim Min-jae's two major league titles were won as an absolute mainstay: two years ago at Napoli, he started all 35 of 38 Serie A appearances and only failed to play a full game in five times. At Bayern this season, Kim Min-jae started all 27 of the 33 games that have been played, and only 7 times did not play the full game.

Of the remaining 14 Asian champions in the top five leagues, the only one who can be a champion like Kim Min-jae is Shinji Okazaki in the 2015/16 season. He made 36 appearances for Leicester City, 28 of them starts. Kim Min-jae, who has won two different five major league titles as the absolute main force, is already a legend in Asian football.

Korean media "North Korean Sports" believes that Kim Min-jae can consider challenging the Premier League championship in the future. Among the number of Asian players and championships who have won the five major league titles, the Bundesliga has the most, followed by the Premier League, with 5 Asian players, Park Ji-sung, Shinji Kagawa, Shinji Okazaki, Takumi Minamino and Endo Airlines, with a total of 8 Premier League titles. Park Ji-sung has four of them and is the first and only Asian player to win the Champions League (Manchester United, 2007/08). In addition, Junichi Inamoto (2001/02, Arsenal) and Dong Fangzhuo (2006/07, Manchester United) both won the Premier League title with the team, but did not reach the required number of Premier League appearances and could not win a winner's medal.

The South Korean media and fans were very unhappy with Bayern's disrespect for Kim Min-jae at the championship ceremony and championship poster, and hoped that he would change the goal.

Juventus, Inter Milan and Napoli have all expressed strong interest in Kim, with offers from Paris, Chelsea and Newcastle United, and even the Saudi giants have made offers for Kim. South Korean media and fans hope that Kim Min-jae will win the third different league championship in the five major leagues. If this achievement can be achieved, Kim Min-jae will become a veritable "champion of Korean football", just like Park Ji-sung.