Son Woong-jung
Overview
Son Woong-jung (손웅정; born 1962) is a South Korean football coach and former football player, widely known as the father of world-class forward Son Heung-min (손흥민). In 2008, he founded the SON Football Academy (SON축구아카데미) in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, and has coached youth players, earning a distinctive place in South Korean football through his philosophy that "technique comes from fundamentals" and a coaching style centered on repetitive training. Through his book Football Is Technique (축구는 기술이다), he generated a strong response among parents and coaches, but in 2024 he was also at the center of controversy when he was indicted on charges of child abuse during training of his students.
Main Content
Life and Background
Son Woong-jung was born in 1962 and was absorbed in football from childhood. As a player, he was far from a glittering national team career or stardom on the professional stage; after a playing career in the corporate (semi-professional) ranks, he worked as a businessman. He trained his two sons (Son Heung-yun, 손흥윤, and Son Heung-min) directly from childhood, thinking he would resolve his lingering regret and thirst for football through his sons' generation. He was especially known for having them repeat individual training for several hours a day, two-footed shooting, ball lifting, and ball control as basic training.
Coaching Career and SON Football Academy
In 2008, he founded the SON Football Academy in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, and entered the path of a youth coach in earnest. While the academy aimed to develop elite players, it was also known for emphasizing character education, lifestyle habits, manners, and patience beyond simple skill training. His coaching method is based on the belief that "if fundamentals are made perfect, players learn application on their own," which has drawn both positive evaluations in the football world and criticism that the training intensity is excessive.
Football Philosophy
The core keywords Son Woong-jung emphasizes are "fundamentals," "repetition," "technique," and "character." In interviews and lectures, he asserted that "football is technique," and demanded technical completeness—such as an individual's ball touch, shooting, and passing—before fancy tactics. He also stressed the power to endure failure and the importance of self-management, arguing that habits and attitude determine a player's ceiling. This philosophy is often cited as the background for Son Heung-min maintaining steady form over the long term on the European stage.
Books and Broadcasting Activities
In the late 2010s, he published Football Is Technique, making it a bestseller, and afterward spread his educational views as a "father and coach" through lectures and broadcast appearances. As his remarks about his relationship with his son, training methods, and child education became social topics, they also sparked discussion about youth sports coaching methods in general.
Child Abuse Controversy
In 2024, after a complaint from the parents' side alleging verbal abuse and assault during academy training, Son Woong-jung and the coaching staff were accused of child abuse, and in August of that year the prosecution indicted him without detention. Son Woong-jung's side denied the charges, saying they were merely part of training, but the case expanded into issues of "the scope of coaching actions permitted in elite sports training" and "children's human rights," causing a large social impact.
Recent Developments
Since the 2024 indictment, as the trial continued, Son Woong-jung greatly reduced official activities and media exposure. Meanwhile, his son Son Heung-min won a European competition with Tottenham Hotspur in 2025, continuing the peak of his career, and in the process the family history and training background were again brought into the spotlight. In South Korea, this case prompted active discussions on institutional improvements regarding youth sports coaches' training methods, abuse reporting systems, and coach qualification management, and how to strike a balance between "performance-centered training" and "human rights-friendly coaching" emerged as a major task for the sports world. The academy's operation and the future outcome of the trial remain matters of interest inside and outside the football world.
Related Topics
- [[Son Heung-min]]
- [[SON Football Academy]]
- [[Football]]
- [[Child abuse]]
- [[Youth sports]]
- [[Tottenham Hotspur]]