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On 27 August, Son picked up an ankle injury in the 4–3 loss to 1. After missing the opening match due to a fever, Son scored two goals within three matches. ĭuring the 2011–12 pre-season, Son was explosive, scoring 18 times in only nine matches. The goal made Son the youngest Hamburg player to score a goal in the Bundesliga at 18, breaking the record held by Manfred Kaltz. He returned on 30 October 2010 to score his first league goal, against 1. After scoring against Chelsea in August, he was out for two months due to a foot injury.
#Son heung min professional
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. After participating in the FIFA U-17 World Cup, he formally joined Hamburger SV's youth academy in November 2009 A year later, he returned to South Korea. 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. His agent Thies Bliemeister said Son was so determined to make himself a success in Europe that he learned German by watching episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants. Apart from his native language Korean, Son is also fluent in German and English. At that time, his role model was midfielder Lee Chung-yong, who played for Crystal Palace and Bolton Wanderers. Son was a ball boy in an FC Seoul home match in 2008 when he was a FC Seoul youth player.
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Son came through the academy at FC Seoul, the same club that former Spurs defender Lee Young-pyo played for. His father, Son Woong-jung, is a retired footballer turned manager who once played for the South Korea national B team. Son Heung-min was born in Chuncheon, Gangwon. 2.3.2 2016–18: Breakthrough and Premier League runner-up.He is credited with causing a large uptick in interest in and the number of supporters of Tottenham among South Koreans and even East Asians more broadly, resulting in the club's social media strategy altering in order to target and cater to Koreans using both the club's standard English language accounts and their newer accounts in Korean. In June 2022, Son received the Cheongnyong Medal, the highest order of merit for achievement in sports given to a South Korea citizen, for his achievements in football. 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 third in 2022.
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Son has also represented South Korea at the 2018 Asian Games, where the team won gold, and the 2011, 2015, and 2019 editions of the AFC Asian Cup.
#Son heung min full
Ī full international since 2010, Son has represented South Korea at the 20 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. In the 2021–22 season, he won, shared alongside Mohamed Salah, the Premier League Golden Boot award with 23 goals, becoming the first Asian player to win it. In 2019, he became the second Asian in history to reach and start a UEFA Champions League final after compatriot Park Ji-sung.
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While at Tottenham, Son became the top Asian goalscorer in both Premier League and Champions League history, and surpassed Cha Bum-kun's record for most goals scored by a Korean player in European competition. In 2013, he moved to Bayer Leverkusen for a club record €10 million before signing for Tottenham for £22 million two years later, becoming the most expensive Asian player in history. Considered one of the best forwards in the world and one of the greatest Asian footballers of all time, he is known for his explosive speed, finishing, two-footedness and ability to link play.īorn in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, Son relocated to Germany to join Hamburger SV at 16, making his debut in the Bundesliga in 2010. Son Heung-min ( Korean: 손흥민 born 8 July 1992) is a South Korean professional footballer who plays as a forward for Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur and captains the South Korea national team.
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