Son Heung-Min - The Football Stories

Born in July, 1992, Son Heung-min is a South Korean Professional footballer who plays as a forward for Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur and serves as captain of South Korean National football team. Known for his finishing, explosive speed, two footedness and ability to link play, Son Heung-min is considered one of the greatest forwards on the planet and stands as one of the greatest Asian footballers in the world of football. When we have a look at the list of greatest footballers of all-time, the European force seems dominant but players like Son Heung-min change the course by representing Asia on the list.

Though Son Heung-min hails from South Korea, his core part of football journey began later in Germany where he moved at the age of 16 only. There he joined Hamburger SV in 2008 while making his debut in Bundesliga, the German League in 2010 at the age of 18. Five years later, he became the most expensive Asian footballer in world football history after signing Tottenham Hotspur for £22 million. Soon after joining, he was also titled the top Asian Goalscorer in the Premier League as well as the European Championship. Heung-min broke the record of Cha Bum-kun for scoring the highest number of goals by a Korean player in European competition and surpassed him to be titled the top Asian Goalscorer.

Early Life

The captain of South Korean National team, Son Heung-min was born on July 8, 1992 in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, South Korea. In his South Korean name “Son Heung-min”, Son is his family name. Being the second child of the family, he was born to his father, Son Woong-Jung and mother, Eun Ja Kil. Heung-min had only one brother who is his elder and they both grew up in their hometown Chuncheon. They were surrounded by a very sporty and productive environment that made them live their Teenage years playing sports like football. It’s not just from his teenage years that Heung-min developed an interest in football but it became a part of his life as soon as he learnt to walk. From the day he was on his feet, he began playing football having no interest in computer video games or little toys.

Heung-min’s dad, Son Woong-Jung was a very understanding father which proved a lucky thing for his son. One day during Heung-min’s childhood, his father asked him if he really wanted to pursue a career in football or really had ambition of setting football fields on fire. Son’s answer was “yes” in a heartbeat. Woong-Jung was glad to hear this but extremely enthusiastic to be a coach to him. Training the young South Korean Champion was not a big deal for him as he had been a professional footballer in his time. He used to train both of his son’s and their mother would be happy to watch them playing together and take care of each of them after the training session ended.

By the time he was 14, his dad allowed him to play matches. In other words, Son Heung-min was given wings and was set to fly. Other than his native language Korean, he also speaks German and English fluently. Yet a lot of stuff is left to discuss about his childhood career beginning. But don’t worry we’ll discuss in detail further.

Is Son Heung-min married?

A crucial question everyone has in their mind right now is if the South Korean Professional footballer is married or not. Well, luckily this is a good news for the female and male fans out there who have a huge crush on the Korean guy. He is not married yet. Currently, Heung-min’s marital status is single but he definitely has a quite good dating history. He has been into a few relationships while some rumours regarding his current or past relationships keep coming up.

Though the handsome Tottenham Hotspur star is not married, he has a long line of women waiting to make him their boyfriend or husband. He is one of the most handsome and popular personalities among women but his ideal type of woman doesn’t seem to be found so easily. Oh, here raises a question “What is the Son Heung-min’s ideal type of woman?”. Well, he doesn’t make it so complicated or tricky for someone to be his girlfriend or wife. All he asks for in his future wife or life partner is a kind heart and someone who accepts him for who he actually is. Publicly, he has never revealed the specific ideal type of woman he needs.

When will Heung-min marry?

While everybody is talking about his professional life and football career, some of you must be curious to know about his personal life or his love life. Now that the Tottenham Hotspur forward is 30, someone in a corner puts the question when is he going to marry. According to a statement of Son Heung-min in 2020, he will not marry until hhe retires as a soccer player.

Yes! This is true. Heung-min said that he is not prepared yet to marry which binds him with a responsibility towards family values which are contrary to his career values. He believes that as a Soccer player, he has such a busy life that he can’t make enough time for his wife or family and that’s why he won’t marry someone until he gets retired as a Soccer player. Above of all, his father asked him to not get married until retirement as well.

Another reason that Heung-min stated is that he wanted to be on the top and make everyone happy by playing the best of all and therefore he will maintain his position and his top level by not getting married before retirement.

Heung-min Son’s Children

As we told you, he is not married yet and doesn’t even intend to for so many upcoming years. He doesn’t have any children and doesn’t seem to be a father to one in any time soon either. He has made it clear that he will not get married before he gets retired as he wants to maintain his top level performance. This suggests that he is not looking for having children for a long time as well. But whenever this miracle happens, we’ll let you know.

Who has Son Heung-min dated?

Though Heung-min doesn’t tend to marry someone for a long time, he is quite active with relationships. He as dated some of K-pop idols and South Korean celebrities while some names are linked to his as a result of rumours.

Min-Ah

Min-Ah is Son Heung-min’s ex-girlfriend who he dated in 2014. At that time, Min-Ah was a former Girls’ Day member whose full name is Bang Min-Ah. Min-Ah is a K-pop idol who was linked to the South Korean footballer. Nobody had a clue about their relationship which was obvious because their became friends at first and then got into a relationship. But this relationship didn’t last long they broke up the same year due to their busy schedules.

Yoo Soo-Young

Here comes Yoo Soo-Young who is a leading actress of South Korea. After dating k-pop idol Min-Ah in 2014, Heung-min came into relationship with the Korean actress in 2015 who is a very popular celebrity among the public of South Korean and other countries where K-dramas are prevalent. Yoo Soo-Young is the former member of “After School”.

On November 11, 2015 their relationship came into public’s eye as they were spotted together in the same car outside the Paju National Football Center by media. Reportedly they were having a ‘Pepero Date’ on the Night. Back then, Son Heung-min was 23 years old and Yoo Soo-Young was 29 years old. Unfortunately Heung-min’s second relationship also didn’t last long. In 2016, they split due to some peculiar circumstances.

Yoo Soo-Young was born on March 29, 1986 in Chuncheon, same town as Heung-min’s. She has played supportive roles in K-dramas such as High Society and Dream High 2. The South Korean celebrity enjoys quite a good amount of popularity as well as income. Soo-Young’s estimated net worth is between $1 million – $5 million. The 5 feet 5 inches tall celebrity has more than 50k followers on Instagram.

Did Heung-min date Jisoo (Blackpink)?

No. One of the oldest members of Blackpink, Jisoo is the rumoured Girlfriend of Tottenham Hotspur’s footballer. He is often involved in dating rumours with K-pop idols and Jisoo became just another one. Last year, Blackpink’s Jisoo was caught kissing black bracelet on her wrist at the same time when Heung-min scored a goal.

This rumour spread widely like Corona virus. Heung-min said that the brecelet was nothing but a sign of their team’s solidarity. The Blackpink star also denied the rumour of dating him.

Another dating rumour involving both of them originated when the Blackpink star Jisoo, who belongs to the same country as Heung-min’s came to the Paris Fashion week while the Premier League player marked his attendance for qualifying round for the FIFA World Cup 2022. In October 2021, Jisoo’s agency denied any kind of dating rumours.

Professional Career

How did it begin?

From very young age, Heung-min wanted to become a Footballer and as soon as he told this to his dad, he started training him. When Heung-min got 14, his father allowed him to play competitive matches. In addition he was a fast learner and had the ability to play with both legs equally well. Coming from the academy at FC Seoul, the same club Lee Young-pyo played for, also had the good foundation of football basics and this is why he could easily fit into German youth club Hamburger SV. In November 2009, Heung-min became a part of Hamburger SV’s youth academy and in 2010 received his first professional contract by Hamburger SV in July 2010 on his birthday. The Korean footballer was so determined to be a successful public figure in Europe that he learnt Germany only by watching episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants.

Heung-min became the youngest Hamburg player to score a goal in Bundesliga in season 2010-11 breaking Manfred Kaltz’s record for scoring youngest goal. He scored three goals in 11 matches that he played in season 2010-11. This achievement forced Pundits to say that Heung-min had what wwas needed to become the next Cha Bum-kun, the greatest South Korean Bundesliga forward.

Bayer Leverkusen

On June 13, 2013, Bayer Leverkusen announced that Heung-min is moving to the club for €10 million. This was the highest transfer fee club had ever paid in its history at the time. The Korean champ fit into club rapidly scoring three goals in his first three appearances. 5 months after joining the club, on November 9, he scored a hat-trick in a 5-3 win against his previous club Hamburger SV. Son scored a goal against Werder Bremen helping his team secure a spot in the 2014-15 UEFA Champions League.

On February 14, 2015, the Former Tottenham Hotspur’s footballer scored another hat-trick for Leverkusen in a 4-5 defeat against VfL Wolfsburg.

Tottenham Hotspur

Here comes one of the most successful Premier League clubs, Tottenham Hotspur. On August 28, 2015 Heung-min signed a five years contract with the Tottenham Hotspur for £22 million and became the most expensive Asian footballer in football history. The South Korean player made his debut for Tottenham Hotspur on September 13, 2015 and was replaced by Andros Townsend in 62nd minute of a 1-0 win.

Son played his first match of 2015-16 UEFA Europa League for Tottenham Hotspur on September 17 where he scored his first two goals in a 3-1 win over Qarabag FK. Just three days later, he also scored his first Premier League goal for the club in a winning match against Crystal Palace at White Hart Lane. Overall, he played outstanding in the first season.

During season 2016-18, on October 14, 2016, Son won the title of Premier League Player of the Month for September month. He became the first ever South Korean and Asian footballer to receive this award. On May 12, 2017 he again recieved the title of Premier League Player of the Month for April becoming the first Asian player to receive this award twice.

On July 2018, Heung-min signed a new five year contract with the Premier League club extending his deal until 2023. For season 2018-19, he scored his first league goal all on his own in a 3-1 home win over Chelsea, which was also his 50th goal for the club since the joined. This goal received the Premier League’s Goal of the Month award for November. On February 13, 2019, he scored his first goal against Borrusia Dortmund in a 3-1 home win in the first leg of the round of 16 of UEFA Champions League.

At the end of the month of February, he won the title of Premier League Player of the Year at the London Football Awards.

On November 23, 2019, Heung-min scored his first ever goal with the Club manager ‘Jose Mourinho’ in a 3-2 Spurs win over West Ham which made him win the title of “Man of the Match”. On December 7, Son scored an individual goal in the match against Burnley that was labelled the goal of the season contender.

In January 2020, Heung-min won the Premier League Goal of the month for December for the same goal he scored against Burnley. This goal was also awarded with a Puskas award by FIFA as the best goal of the past 12 months in December 2020.

Son Heung-min Net Worth

Along with the position that South Korean footballer Son Heung-min holds in the world of football, he enjoys a quite good net worth as well. His net worth is estimated to be $31.56 million. He makes most of the money through football contracts and endorsement deals with big brands. Heung-min earns a salary of $9.1 million per year and $175k per week. The current market value of the South Korean footballer is said to be $72.1 million as of now.

Other than the fact that he earns quite a reasonable amount of money every year, he is also good at spending this money on the things he likes such as cars. He has a rich car collection worth £1.5 million which includes exclusive cars of several different global brands. His car collection consists of following cars:

Black Ferrari LaFerrari (One of the most expensive cars in the world that costs up to $1,416,362 and only 499 of these incredible cars are made).
Maserati Levante which was given to the Tottenham player by the Italian manufacturer of this car. A statement of Korea’s official Maserati importer said that he gifted the Tottenham player the motor because “it might be the most watching vehicle to Son, who can play with delicacy and unstoppable power”.
Range rover with a classy matte black finish. The South Korean charm has the Evoque model of this car brand whose initial cost is around £31,000.
Bentley Continental GT is another exclusive car that the Tottenham player keeps in his collection. A lot of Premier League Players own this car and Son came to own it for £160,000. Christiano Ronaldo also used to drive the same car model back in 2017.