📍Chuncheon, Gangwon, South Korea
1992 – 2008“Son Heung-min was born in July 1992 in Chuncheon, a small lakeside city in the mountains of Gangwon province, about 75 kilometres east of Seoul, and grew up there with his older brother, Heung-yun. His father, Son Woong-jung, had been a professional striker whose career was cut short by injury, which he blamed on overwork, and he was determined that his sons would learn the game differently from the gruelling drills of Korean youth football. Instead of letting Heung-min join a club, his father coached him himself, for years, focusing only on the basics: ball control, dribbling, passing and shooting, with both feet. While other boys played full matches, Heung-min practised juggling, touch and technique, day after day, in Chuncheon's parks and pitches. His father was strict and demanding, and Heung-min has said he owes everything to him. He did not play in a formal team until his mid-teens, and he went to school in Chuncheon before moving to Dongbuk High School in Seoul. In 2008, at sixteen, he left school to join Hamburg's youth academy in Germany, and his father moved with him, staying near the training ground. He made his Bundesliga debut for Hamburg at eighteen, in 2010, then played for Bayer Leverkusen, and in 2015 joined Tottenham, where he became one of the best players in the world, winning the Premier League Golden Boot in 2022 and captaining the club to the Europa League in 2025. He captained South Korea, and his father now runs the SON Football Academy in Chuncheon, teaching children the same way.”
🗺️ Approximate location today
📍 Street view today