Son Heung-min
Active- Current or last club
- Los Angeles FC
- Country (nationality)
- South Korea
- League or competition
- Major League Soccer
- Position
- Forward
- How is the religion known?
- Unconfirmed, needs checking
- Last checked
- 8 October 2026
We list a player’s religion only where they have spoken about it publicly or it has been reliably reported, and we link our sources. If something is wrong, or a player’s views have changed, please tell us and we will review it.
Table of Contents
What religion is Son Heung-min?
Son Heung-min is a South Korean professional footballer who has not publicly declared a specific religion in detail, but he has spoken about praying before matches as a form of gratitude. Several media outlets claim he practices Buddhism or Protestant Christianity, but Son himself has kept his precise theological beliefs private.
When discussing the routine of putting his hands together before stepping onto the pitch, he clarified that his actions are centered around mindfulness, health, and passion rather than specific religious requests.
“I don’t pray about the results of the game or my record… I usually pray for the opportunity to stand on the field. I don’t want to lose my happiness [about soccer] even after the game is over. I don’t want to get hurt. I started playing soccer because it was fun and I could laugh. I don’t want to lose this smile.”
While his brother has been associated with Protestantism in domestic Korean registries, Son treats his own matchday prayers as a deeply personal ritual of gratitude and mental preparation.
Son Heung-min plays for the Major League Soccer club Los Angeles FC and captains the South Korea national team. He left home at age 16 to join the youth academy at Hamburger SV in Germany. He later improved his skills at Bayer Leverkusen before spending a successful decade at Tottenham Hotspur. At Tottenham, he became the club captain, won the Premier League Golden Boot, and lifted the Europa League trophy.
Son moved to LAFC in August 2025. People widely consider him to be the greatest Asian footballer in history. He also holds the record as the top Asian goalscorer in both the Premier League and the Champions League. Additionally, Son has represented South Korea at the FIFA World Cup in 2014, 2018, 2022, and 2026.
Contracts, salary & career earnings
Son earned around €47,000 to €54,000 per week during his final two seasons at Bayer Leverkusen. Tottenham signed him in 2015 on a contract paying around £85,000 per week. His wages rose through new contract deals to £140,000 per week by 2019 and eventually reached roughly £190,000 per week during his final years in London. Son left Tottenham to join LAFC in August 2025.
MLS and Spotrac describe the move as a $26 million transfer fee paid to Tottenham. He signed a Designated Player contract that runs through 2027, and the club holds options to extend it for 2028 and 2029. His base salary at LAFC is reported at just over $10.3 million each year and total compensation of $11.2 million, making him the second-highest-paid player behind Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi. Off the pitch, his total net worth is estimated at around $100 million as of 2026, with his total career earnings passing $150 million.
Military service
South Korean law requires almost all able-bodied men to complete about 21 months of mandatory military service by age 28. Son earned an exemption from full service after helping South Korea win a gold medal at the 2018 Asian Games. The team beat Japan 2–1 in extra time during the final match.
Even with a gold medal, athletes must still complete a shorter alternative service package. This includes a three-week basic training course and around 500 hours of community service. Son went to a Marine Corps training camp on Jeju Island on April 20, 2020. He timed the training to match the football break caused by the COVID-19 pandemic while he was also recovering from a broken arm. Over three weeks, he took part in shooting drills, tear gas exercises, and 30-kilometer hikes.
Son finished in the top five out of 157 people in his unit. He won the “Pilsung” prize for his excellent performance. The name of the award means “certain victory” and is a traditional military battle cry. He still had to finish his community service hours by 2023 to complete his full duty.
Early life
Son Heung-min was born on July 8, 1992, in Chuncheon, South Korea. His father, Son Woong-jung, played as a forward for several teams before a bad injury ended his career at age 28. His mother, Eun Ja-kim, looked after the home. He has an older brother, Son Heung-yun, who played football in Korea’s lower leagues.
His father trained him personally from a very young age. He kept Son out of regular youth matches until he was 14 years old. Instead, they focused entirely on ball control and basic skills for up to two hours a day. His father did this because he believed the harsh training system in Korea caused his own early injury. Son later joined the youth academy at FC Seoul, where he also worked as a ball boy in 2008. In August 2008, at just 16 years old, he left school and moved to Germany to join the Hamburger SV youth academy.
Club career
Son made his Bundesliga debut for Hamburger SV in 2010 at age 18. He missed the opening weeks of the season with a foot injury but scored on his league debut against Cologne that October. This made him the youngest Hamburg player to score a league goal at the time. Son’s goal numbers grew steadily over three seasons at Hamburg. He scored three goals in his first year, five in his second year, and 12 in his third year. This included scoring twice against league champions Borussia Dortmund both home and away. In total, he scored 20 goals for Hamburg before his next big move.
In June 2013, Bayer Leverkusen signed Son on a five-year contract. He spent two seasons at the club and scored 29 goals across all competitions. He also added three goals and three assists in 16 Champions League matches. His excellent performances helped Leverkusen qualify for the Champions League in both of his seasons there.
Tottenham Hotspur
On 28 August 2015, Tottenham signed Son from Bayer Leverkusen, subject to a work permit, in a deal worth a reported £22 million. He started well by scoring twice on his home debut in a 3–1 Europa League win over Qarabağ and subsequently finished his first year in London with eight goals in 40 games. Over ten incredible seasons, he went on to score 162 goals in 408 appearances for the club. He also formed a famous partnership with Harry Kane. The pair set a Premier League record by assisting each other 47 times.
Son won the FIFA Puskás Award in 2019 for a brilliant solo goal against Burnley, where he ran the full length of the pitch. During the 2021–22 season, he became the first Asian player to win the Premier League Golden Boot, sharing the award with Mohamed Salah after scoring 23 goals. Son was named Tottenham captain in 2023. Under his leadership, Spurs won the UEFA Europa League in 2025, ending the club’s 17-year wait for a trophy. He left the club in August 2025, playing his final farewell game against Newcastle United in front of 65,000 fans in his hometown of Seoul.
Los Angeles FC
Los Angeles FC announced they signed Son from Tottenham in August 2025. He signed a Designated Player contract that runs through 2027, and the club holds options to extend it for 2028 and 2029. Even though he arrived in the middle of the season, he made an instant impact. LAFC won nine matches, lost two, and drew four after he joined the team. He also formed a great partnership with Denis Bouanga, as the pair combined for 25 goals and eight assists during that run. Thanks to his excellent form, Son was named a finalist for the league’s Newcomer of the Year award and won the 2025 MLS Goal of the Year award.
International career
In 2010, Son made his senior debut for South Korea and has since become one of the country’s all-time top scorers, playing over 140 times for his nation by 2026. He played at the 2016 Rio Olympics, where the team reached the quarter-finals. At the 2018 World Cup, he scored in a famous group-stage win that knocked defending champions Germany out of the tournament.
Later in 2018, Son played as an older wild card player to help South Korea win a gold medal at the Asian Games. He set up both goals in a 2–1 win against Japan in the final. This gold medal earned him a special exemption from South Korea’s mandatory 21-month military service. Instead of full service, he completed a short three-week training program at a Marine Corps camp in 2020. He has since captained his country at the 2022 World Cup and recently led them at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, marking his fourth career World Cup appearance at age 33.
Family controversy
In 2024, Son’s father and his academy came under investigation by the police. The SON Football Academy in Chuncheon was financed by Son himself since it opened in 2021. A parent claimed that a coach struck their child with a corner flag and verbally abused them during a training camp in Okinawa, Japan.
A South Korean court later found Son’s father, his brother, and another coach guilty of child abuse. The court fined them ₩3,000,000 ($2,200) each and ordered them to complete 40 hours of anti-child-abuse training. Son’s father denied trying to hurt anyone. He stated in court that his actions were based on love for the children, but he apologized and promised to change the academy’s coaching methods.
Personal life
In April 2019, Son donated around £100,000 to victims of a major wildfire in his home region of Gangwon Province, which destroyed an estimated 135 homes. In addition to his native Korean, Son is fluent in German and English.
