Upon signing for LAFC from Tottenham Hotspur last summer, Los Angeles city councillor Heather Hutt went viral for a heads-in-hands moment in welcoming Son Heung-min to his new home.
Hutt, who was presumably not entirely clear on the differences between club and international football, told Son that Los Angeles would be expecting the USA to win when they play their opening game at SoFi Stadium on June 13. Hutt then added: “We are here to support you to get that done,” a clip that was shared millions of times around the world.
Son, who has represented South Korea more than any player in history, may not be able to help the USMNT win on home soil this summer, but he is a global icon and one of football’s most-loved superstars. And while he is rarely seen without his trademark smile plastered over his face, his cheerful disposition betrays the steely determination he has shown to make it to the top.
Like many fellow sporting prodigies around the world, including the Williams sisters and Tiger Woods, Son’s father, Son Woong-jung, was a strict disciplinarian. Woong-jung, a professional footballer himself before injuries curtailed his career, was the personal football coach for Son and his elder brother, and frequently pushed his sons to the limit, even in childhood.
“He gave us four hours of keepy-uppies,” Son told The Guardian in 2019. “Both of us. After about three hours, I was seeing three balls. The floor was red (through bloodshot eyes). I was so tired. And he was so angry. I think this was the best story, and we still talk about it when we are all together. Four hours keeping the ball up, and you don’t drop it. That’s difficult, no?”
Though Son, 33, has described his father as strict and scary at times, he credits him with helping him build the spectacular career he would later have as a professional. It began in Germany after leaving his home country for Europe at the age 16. Son spent four years honing his craft in the Bundesliga, playing for Hamburg and Bayer Leverkusen, where he netted 29 times in 87 appearances.
Upon joining Tottenham in July 2015 for £22million, he became the most expensive Asian footballer in history. It’s difficult to overstate what Son means to Tottenham, the club where he spent the best decade of his career and where he is revered as an icon. When he joined, he was a relative unknown outside of Germany and was even linked with moves away from the club after an inconsistent first season in north London. By the time he left for LAFC last summer, he was regarded as one of the club’s greatest-ever players, and, crucially, the man who captained the club to their first trophy in 17 years.
On the pitch, he was among the Premier League’s most feared forwards. In 333 league appearances for Tottenham, he scored 127 times, primarily playing from the left wing. That’s more Premier League goals than Didier Drogba, who was nominally a centre-forward, and Cristiano Ronaldo, who spent eight seasons at Manchester United across two spells. After scoring 23 Premier League goals in 2021-22, Son won the Golden Boot, an accolade he shared with Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah.
As for the most famous of the 173 goals he scored for Spurs in all competitions? It came in the 2019-20 season at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Son picked the ball up in the Tottenham half and took off on a sixty-yard dribble past six Burnley defenders on his way to finishing past goalkeeper Nick Pope. For that wondrous feat of technical skill and blistering speed, Son was awarded the 2020 FIFA Puskas Award, the trophy granted for the best goal scored at any level of the game.
And while Son, as evidenced by that solo goal, could often do it by himself, he was at his best in north London when paired with Harry Kane. Their partnership is arguably the greatest and most natural the Premier League has ever seen, combining for 47 goals, the most of any duo in league history. Son assisted Kane 23 times, while the inverse happened just once more, proving just how symbiotic their relationship was across their eight years together at Tottenham.
But Kane wasn’t around for the moment that perhaps places Son above any Tottenham player in the 21st century. After being named as a substitute due to a foot injury, Son came off the bench to help Tottenham see out a 1-0 win over Manchester United in the 2025 Europa League final, winning his first trophy for Tottenham and the club’s first since 2008. High on emotions, Son reluctantly admitted, “I’m a legend”, to TNT Sports in the celebrations.
It was not his first piece of silverware, however. Winning the 2018 Asian Games with South Korea, leading a squad mostly composed of Under-23 players, may have been the most important of his career, as it earned him an exemption from the mandatory military service that all South Korean men must complete before turning 28. When he finally did it in 2020, pictures of him in military uniform were front-page news in Korea for days.
Even more so than in north London, Son is a superstar in his home country. After making his debut against Poland at the age of 18 in 2010, he became South Korea’s most-capped player last October by starting a 5-0 friendly defeat against Brazil. “Being able to stand for the national team for 15 years is thanks to the help of many people,” he said at a press conference before the match. He now has 145 caps, scoring 56 times.
Last year, he ranked second in Forbes’ Power Celebrity 40 for South Korea, and fans idolise him wherever he goes. While he operates more as a creator now at LAFC (despite scoring the MLS goal of the season on his debut), those fans will be hoping he can roll back the years for the national team as he leads them through the World Cup, for what could be the final time.
