Tottenham star Son Heung-min's father faces physical abuse lawsuit after academy player was 'beaten with a corner flag' for losing a race at his South Korean training centre
- Players at the academy were allegedly struck for making mistakes in training
The father of Spurs star Son Heung-min has been accused of beating a student with a corner flag at his South Korean football academy for 'coming last in a race'.
Son Woong-jung, himself a former footballer, is alleged to have been involved in physically and verbally abusing the unnamed student for making mistakes in training sessions and matches, according to the Yonhap news agency.
This amounted to hitting him with a corner flag causing injuries that required weeks of treatment, the player claims.
The 62-year-old acknowledged the incident had occurred at his Son Football Academy in Chuncheon and apologised, but denied his treatment of players amounted to physical abuse.
'This incident was not corporal punishment but a mutually agreed event as part of fitness training,' he said in a statement. The player came last in a race, he said, and was supposed to be 'hit once' on the thigh.
The incident came to light after the young player's parents reported Son senior to the police in March after they noticed a bruise on their son's thigh following a training camp in Japan.
Son Woong Jung, father of Heung Min Son of Hamburg watches during a training session of Hamburger SV on April 18, 2013
Son Heung-min (R) prepares before the 2026 FIFA World Cup AFC qualifiers match against Singapore on June 6
The family also provided a photograph of the purported injury, which was published by South Korea's Yonhap news agency.
'Thinking about how frightened my son must have been makes me angry,' the father said via Yonhap.
'I decided to report the case to the police because I didn't want to see another case like this.'
The parents claimed that one coach struck their son in the thigh with the flag on March 9, and that the injury required two weeks of treatment.
Son Woong-jung and two of his coaches were accused of abusing the player as a means of corporal punishment.
The player told police he and teammates had been told to run from the goal-line to the halfway line in 20 seconds after losing a match.
When the player and three others failed to make it in time, they were made to adopt a prone position and were 'struck in the buttocks', Yonhap reported.
The instructors were also accused of hitting the player while inside the players' dormitory at the academy.
The police forward the case to the prosecution in April.
Son senior said he had tried to resolve the matter amicably but failed because the parents had demanded a settlement worth hundreds of millions of won (hundreds of thousands of pounds).
'We are currently awaiting a fair legal judgement based on facts,' he said in the statement.
Son admitted his coaching methods had failed to follow new standards concerning players' human rights.
'I will self-reflect in atonement for having insisted on my method while failing to catch up with the boundaries set by the change of times and laws,' he said.
He added: 'I swear that coaches at my academy have never engaged in any action that wasn't based on love for our young players.
'Much of what the plaintiff has said is not true, and we at the academy are fully cooperating with the authorities during this investigation, without distorting or covering up facts.'
Ryu Jae-yool, representing the player, said Son was trying to portray himself as innocent and the complainant as greedy.
'This wasn't a one-off incident that they took to police,' he insisted in a statement.
'The player spent time away from his parents and endured persistent abuse. He took a courageous step to bring this forward.'
Son Heung-min (right) pictured with his father at Gimpo Int'l Airport in South Korea in 2020
Son Heung-min celebrates after scoring for South Korea against Singapore on June 6, 2024
Son Woong-jung played as a forward for Sangmu FC, Hyundai Horang-i and Ithwa Chunma over a five year career, before retiring due to injury.
He was also selected for the South Korea national football B team in 1987.
Son is credited with raising a generational talent in Son Heung-min, 31, who has played for Spurs since moving from Bayer Leverkusen in 2015.
With Tottenham, Son Jr has 120 goals from 303 appearances, and is a mainstay in South Korea's national team, with 127 caps.
Son became the first Asian player to win the Premier League Golden Boot as top scorer in 2022, and the first Asian player to score 100 Premier League goals in 2023.
