In the most extraordinary of circumstances, South Korea defeated Portugal and scored in the 91st minute to win the match and advance as runners-up from Group H.

South Korea and Uruguay finished tied on four points with a goal difference of zero, but South Korea had scored four goals to Uruguay’s two, allowing South Korea to advance on goals scored despite Uruguay’s 2-0 victory over Ghana in the group’s other game.

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Ricardo Horta gave Portugal the early advantage before Kim Young-gwon scored Korea’s equaliser. South Korea knew they needed just one more goal to secure their victory, setting up a frantic second half. However, it appeared as though they would fall short until Son Heung-min, who had multiple fractures around his left eye less than a month earlier and was required to play with a mask, broke free on the counterattack to set up Hwang with minutes left. 

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Who is Son Heung-min?

Son Heung-min, a South Korean professional football player born on July 8, 1992, plays forward for Premier League team Tottenham Hotspur and serves as the national team captain. He is renowned for his great athleticism, finishing, two-footedness, and ability to link play. He is regarded as one of the greatest Asian footballers of all time and one of the best forwards in the world.

Son, who was born in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, moved to Germany at the age of 16 to join Hamburger SV and made his Bundesliga debut in 2010. He joined Bayer Leverkusen in 2013 for a club-record €10 million, then two years later, he signed with Tottenham for £22 million, making him the most expensive Asian player in history.

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Son broke Cha Bum-kun’s record for most goals scored by a Korean player in European competition while playing for Tottenham and rose to the highest Asian goalscorer in both Premier League and Champions League history.

After his fellow countryman Park Ji-sung in 2019, he became the second Asian to ever start in a UEFA Champions League final. With 23 goals during the 2021–22 season, he and Mohamed Salah shared the Premier League Golden Boot trophy, making him the first Asian player to do so.

Son, a full international since 2010, has played for South Korea in the 2014, 2018, and 2022 FIFA World Cups. With three goals, Son shares the title of best scorer for his nation at World Cups with Park Ji-sung and Ahn Jung-hwan.

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Son has also represented South Korea at the AFC Asian Cup in 2011, 2015, and 2019, as well as the 2018 Asian Games, where the squad won gold. 2015’s runner-up was Korea. Son’s accomplishments outside of football are seen as a fount of pride for South Koreans, and he has been included in the Forbes Korea Power Celebrity 40 list from 2019, where he finished third in 2022.

Son was awarded the Cheongnyong Medal in June 2022 for his football accomplishments, the highest honor of merit in sports awarded to a citizen of South Korea. He is credited with significantly increasing interest in and the number of Tottenham supporters among South Koreans and even East Asians in general. As a result, Tottenham changed its social media strategy to target and serve Koreans using both the club’s traditional English language accounts and their more recent Korean accounts.

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Son used the COVID-19 pandemic’s suspension of football to finish his conscription in the South Korean military. With a gold medal at the Asian Games, he was excused from military service; nevertheless, even with the exemption, he still had to complete basic military training. In April and May 2020, he finished in the top five of 157 trainees in the Republic of Korea Marine Corps’ basic training facility in Jeju.

Son donated to the victims of the Goseong Fire, which devastated Goseong County in the South Korean province of Gangwon, over £100,000 in 2019. Son gave £65,000 in donations in 2020 to help South Korea fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

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With the help of his father and brother, Son founded the Son Football Academy in Chuncheon, South Korea, for a total of £11 million, largely his own money.

Age

As of 2022, Son Heung-min is 30 years old.

Height

Son’s height is listed as 5ft 11 in or 180.3 cm.

Net worth

According to celebritynetworth.com Son’s net worth is $20 million.