Son Heung-min

Son Heung-min is a South Korean professional footballer who plays as a forward and captains the South Korea national team. Known for his speed, finishing, two-footedness, and ability to link play, he is the top Asian goalscorer in both Premier League and UEFA Champions League history, and is widely regarded as the greatest Asian player of all time. Born in Chuncheon, South Korea, Son relocated to Germany to join Hamburger SV at 16, making his debut in the Bundesliga in 2010. In 2013, he moved to Bayer Leverkusen for a club record €10 million before signing for Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur two years later. While at Spurs, Son soon established himself as one of the best forwards in the world. He contributed to the club reaching the Champions League final in 2018–19 and the EFL Cup final in 2020–21. In 2019–20, Son scored a solo effort in the league that earned him the FIFA Puskás Award. In the 2021–22 season, he jointly won the Premier League Golden Boot award with 23 goals, becoming the first Asian player to win it. In April 2023, he became the first Asian player to score 100 Premier League goals. Appointed club captain later in 2023, he led Spurs to the UEFA Europa League title, his first major honour, in 2025, his final season, while also ending a 17-year trophy drought for the club. A full international since 2010, Son has represented South Korea at the 2014, 2018, and 2022 FIFA World Cups and is his country’s joint top scorer at World Cups, tied with Park Ji-sung and Ahn Jung-hwan on three goals. Son has also represented South Korea at the 2018 Asian Games, where the team won gold, and the 2011, 2015, 2019, and 2023 editions of the AFC Asian Cup; Korea was the runner-up in 2015. Outside of football, Son is viewed as a symbol of national pride in South Korea for his achievements, and has been listed in Forbes Korea Power Celebrity 40 since 2019, where he ranked second in 2024. In June 2022, Son received the Order of Sport Merit, Cheongnyong class, the highest order of merit for achievement in sports given to a South Korean citizen, for his achievements in football. Son has been credited for having raised the profile of Spurs among South Koreans, with the club’s marketing and social media strategy catering extensively to Korean supporters.

Match Worn Boots


Hamburger SV


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These boots were worn by Son Heung-min during the season 2011/2012 with Hamburger SV. In August 2008, Son dropped out of Dongbuk High School’s football club (formerly FC Seoul under-18 team) and joined Hamburger SV’s youth academy at age 16 through Korean FA Youth Project. A year later, he returned to South Korea. After participating in the FIFA U-17 World Cup, he formally joined Hamburger SV’s youth academy in November 2009. He was impressive in the 2010–11 pre-season, leading the team with nine goals, and signed his first professional contract on his 18th birthday.[35] After scoring against Chelsea in August, he was out for two months due to a foot injury. He returned on 30 October 2010 to score his first league goal, against 1. FC Köln in the 24th minute. The goal made Son the youngest Hamburg player to score a goal in the Bundesliga at 18, breaking the record held by Manfred Kaltz. Son signed a new deal with Hamburg through 2014. Pundits said he had what it took to become the next Cha Bum-kun, a legendary Bundesliga forward and fellow South Korean.[38] Son scored three goals in 14 matches in all competition during the 2010–11 season. During the 2011–12 pre-season, Son was explosive, scoring 18 times in only nine matches. After missing the opening match due to a fever, Son scored two goals within three matches. On 27 August, Son picked up an ankle injury in the 4–3 loss to 1. FC Köln and was initially projected to be out of action for four to six weeks. His recovery was quicker than expected and he returned to action only three weeks later as a substitute in a 1–0 loss against Borussia Mönchengladbach on 17 September. Over the course of the 2011–12 season, he made 30 appearances for Hamburg and scored five goals, including crucial goals against Hannover 96 and 1. FC Nürnberg at the end of the season to help ensure that Hamburg remained in the Bundesliga. Following Hamburger SV’s 2012–13 offseason moves, which saw the transfers of the team’s strikers Mladen Petrić and Paolo Guerrero to Fulham and Corinthians respectively, manager Thorsten Fink chose to name Son a starter. The 2012–13 season was a breakthrough season for Son as he scored two goals in an away fixture against Borussia Dortmund on 9 February 2013, helping his team to a 4–1 victory. Son was chosen Mann des Tages (Man of the Match) by kicker. On 14 April, Son netted two goals in a 2–1 win against Mainz 05. He finished the season with 12 goals, becoming the fifth South Korean footballer to achieve double digits in goals in Europe. He finished the 2012–13 season with 12 goals in 34 matches in all competitions.

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Son is a versatile player who can play in any forward position, (winger, second striker, striker) and can even be deployed as an attacking midfielder or wing-back if necessary. He himself has confirmed this, saying, “I don’t care where I play. The main thing is I’m in the game. I can play as a second striker or behind. Whatever the coach says, I’ll do. I don’t have a favorite position. I’ll be anywhere and always on the throttle.” Son is known for his two-footed ability, explosive pace, positional sense, movement, close control and clinical finishing which make him especially effective on the counter-attack. Moreover, he has drawn praise from teammates and in the media for his selfless work-rate and defensive contribution, and is capable of providing assists for teammates, in addition to scoring goals himself. In a 2021 interview, Sir Alex Ferguson mentioned Son as a player that he wished he could have managed, calling him and then-teammate Harry Kane “excellent players.” Son has a sponsorship deal with sportswear and equipment supplier Adidas. Since 2022, he has been a brand ambassador for British luxury fashion house Burberry. In March 2023, Son was named as the global face of the Burberry’s first campaign under its new chief creative officer Daniel Lee along with Georgia May Jagger. In February 2022, Son was selected as brand ambassador for American high-end luggage brand Tumi. In February 2024, he was upgraded to become a global ambassador for Tumi and appeared on its global campaign with the new TUMI 19 Degree Aluminum collection. On 7 August 2022, Son was named brand ambassador for Calvin Klein Underwear in South Korea. Son has two officially licensed NFT collections that have been released in collaboration with NFTStar (a sports fandom social platform with a web3 community) that are available for purchase on OpenSea. His first NFT collection is called the ‘NFTStar Fan Pass – Son Heung Min’, and the second NFT collection called ‘Golden Shiny Boot’ was a free mint project available for fan pass holders. Son has dated K-pop singers Bang Min-ah and Yoo So-young, and was single as of March 2019. Son used the suspension of football during the COVID-19 pandemic to complete South Korean mandatory military service. He was exempted from military service with a gold medal at the Asian Games, but he had to do basic military training regardless of exemption. He completed basic training in the Republic of Korea Marine Corps in Jeju in April–May 2020, finishing in the top five of 157 trainees. As a South Korean player, Son has suffered racist abuse from fans during games and online. He is part of UEFA’s Real Scars campaign, which seeks to raise awareness of online abuse and harassment of football players. Son is also a fan of the video game League of Legends. In 2019, Son donated around £100,000 to the victims of the Goseong Fire, which left vast devastation in Goseong County, Gangwon, in his native South Korea. In 2020, Son donated £65,000 in aid, to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea. Son opened Son Football Academy in his hometown Chuncheon with his father and his brother, at a cost of £11 million, mostly his money. On 27 August 2025, Son threw the first pitch for Major League Baseball team Los Angeles Dodgers to kick-off their game against the Cincinnati Reds.