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Coaching suspension dropped for Son Heung-min's father over registration loophole

Published: 29 May. 2025, 12:13

Son Woong-jung, director of the SON Football Academy and father of football star Son Heung-min, speaks in an interview with Yonhap News Agency in western Seoul on Jan. 7, 2024. [YONHAP]

Son Heung-min’s dad may be tough on the pitch — but a paperwork technicality just got him off the hook.

Disciplinary action against Son Woong-jung, director of the SON Football Academy and father of the football star, has been overturned because he was not a registered coach at the time of the alleged child abuse.

The Gangwon State Sports Council held a meeting of its Sports Fairness Committee on Wednesday to review sanctions previously imposed on SON Football Academy coaches accused of physically or emotionally abusing a youth player last year.

The council said it canceled the three-month suspension imposed on Son because the incident occurred in March 2024, a month before he officially registered as a coach with the Korea Football Association in April.

“Since Son was not registered as a coach at the time, the relevant disciplinary regulations cannot be applied,” the council said in a statement.

The Gangwon Football Association recently issued disciplinary measures against Son and two other academy coaches over the same case. Son and one coach were each suspended for three months for what the association deemed “spontaneous verbal abuse.”

Tottenham Hotspurs and Korean national team captain Son Heung-min is pictured on March 20. [YONHAP]

Son Heung-yun, the academy’s head coach and elder brother of Son Heung-min, received a six-month suspension. The council acknowledged that the assault was “impulsive and accompanied by exceptional mitigating circumstances.”

Under current rules, this level of punishment is the lowest in the disciplinary range for violent conduct by coaches.

Both the coaches and the victim’s guardians requested a retrial. The coaches appealed the sanctions, while the victim’s side argued that the abuse “was not an isolated incident and cannot be considered spontaneous.”

The council on Wednesday dismissed the retrial petitions of Son Heung-yun and the other coach and upheld their suspensions. During the suspension period, they are banned from participating in any event hosted by the Korea Sports Council or affiliated bodies.

According to the victim’s side, during a training camp in Okinawa in March 2024, Son Heung-yun struck a trainee with a corner flagpole on the thigh for failing to complete a drill in 20 seconds, resulting in an injury that required two weeks of treatment.

Son Woong-jung was also found to have repeatedly cursed at the victim during training for making mistakes.

All three were each fined 3 million won ($2,160) and ordered to complete 40 hours of child abuse prevention education by the Chuncheon District Court in October 2024 after being convicted of violating the Child Welfare Act.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY JANG GU-SEUL [[email protected]]