Tottenham Hotspur announces pre-season squad for South Korean tour

By aaron coe | jul 9, 2022.

NORWICH, ENGLAND - MAY 22: Son Heung-Min of Tottenham Hotspur celebrates after scoring their fourth goal during the Premier League match between Norwich City and Tottenham Hotspur at Carrow Road on May 22, 2022 in Norwich, England. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Tottenham Hotspur released the list of players going on the pre-season tour with Antonio Conte , and there were few surprises among the names. 

With Conte joining midseason last year, this pre-season was always going to be significant. With the first two matches coming in South Korea, the timeline for getting players signed and into the club was essential and as a result, three of the four new signings will be going on this pre-season bonding tour. Thus making it on the flight is crucial, especially for those players fighting for a position in Conte’s rotation.

The squad for our matches against Team K League and Sevilla in the #CoupangPlaySeries in Korea has been confirmed as follows... — Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) July 9, 2022

So who is making the trip and who is not? We review the list here by position, starting with our goalkeepers.

Tottenham Korea Tour Keepers

This was probably the easiest of selections for Conte and his staff as there are two clear senior keepers and two younger players fighting for a chance.  Hugo Lloris is the undisputed starter, and as a longstanding club captain, a strong season with a cup title could cement his legendary status among the club faithful.

Alternatively, Fraser Forster has just joined Spurs, but like with Lloris, there is little doubt about his place on the team as the backup goalkeeper. Given the number of matches the team will play in the upcoming season, Forster should get his chances.

After the clear one and two, Spurs have a couple of younger options. Brandon Austin has technically been part of the senior team for a season but has spent much of his time on loan. Josh Keeley, like Forster, is new for Spurs, signing as a U21 player in July. The battle between Austin and Keeley for the number three tole is about the only excitement here, and both should get a chance.

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Tottenham Hotspur confirm location for first overseas pre-season tour since 2019

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Tottenham Hotspur announce preseason tour to South Korea in the summer

As per the Evening Standard , Tottenham Hotspur have announced that South Korea is a destination for their pre-season tour in the summer.

Covid had taken away foreign pre-season tours from Premier League clubs, with travel restrictions and bio-bubbles making it hard for top-flight teams to travel to different continents and work up their fitness with pre-season matches.

That does not seem to be the case for Spurs this time around, with club chairman Daniel Levy announcing that the club was jetting out in the summer for an overseas pre-season tour in South Korea.

“We are delighted to be heading back out on tour after what has been such a challenging time for us all. Being able to take our team overseas during pre-season is always a key part of the preparation for any forthcoming season – I speak on behalf of all players and staff in saying we have missed being able to do so in recent years.”

Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy announces South Korea pre-season tour in the summer.

The overseas tour will be the Lilywhites’ first since 2019 when they visited Singapore and China under Mauricio Pochettino to include Asia as part of the pre-season destinations. The continent is home to a large number of Premier League fans, and Spurs have a healthy fanbase in the region.

Return home for Son

South Korea captain Son Heung-min plays for Tottenham, and the star is a crucial reason as to why the club has a growing fanbase in the country. The Spurs forward is a hero to many Koreans in his native nation, and the club is looking to capitalise on this connection.

Son spoke of his delight about the club heading to his homeland for pre-season, saying he was excited for the squad to see the passion that Korean fans had for the club and the players.

“I am extremely excited to be returning home to South Korea this summer alongside my Spurs team-mates – for most of whom this will be their first visit. I can’t wait to see their reaction to the passionate Korean fans and the incredible atmosphere in what we are sure will be packed out stadiums for our matches.”

Tottenham Hotspur forward Son Heung-min is a big reason for South Korea to have a growing Spurs fanbase.

After what seems like ages, it looks like Tottenham will finally be heading overseas for a pre-season tour this summer. It is quite common to see Premier League clubs heading out to continents like Asia and Africa to increase their fanbase, but Covid played spoilsport in the past couple of years.

It is said that Spurs are due to play two exhibition matches as part of the Coupang Play Series, with dates, opposition, and venues to be announced in due course. It is sure to be a grand experience for South Korean fans, getting to see their favourite players take to the field.

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For players, it will be a good break from their usual Covid bio-bubbles and monotonous routines, getting to interact and play in front of fans again in different venues. Impressive performances from them will only help increase the fanbase of the club in South Korea, and the club hierarchy will be keen to see that happen.

Manager Antonio Conte will hope to use this summer pre-season tour in South Korea to see which players deserve to claim a spot in his starting XI next season and try out different tactics and methods to improve the team.

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Tottenham 1-1 Sevilla — Spurs end Korea tour with draw in Suwon

Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-min applauds the crowd at the end of a friendly against Sevilla at Suwon World Cup Stadium in Suwon, Gyeonggi on Saturday. [YONHAP]

Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-min applauds the crowd at the end of a friendly against Sevilla at Suwon World Cup Stadium in Suwon, Gyeonggi on Saturday. [YONHAP]

Tottenham Hotspur and Sevilla players clash in the center circle after the whistle blew at the end of the first half of a friendly at Suwon World Cup Stadium in Suwon, Gyeonggi on Saturday. [NEWS1]

Tottenham Hotspur and Sevilla players clash in the center circle after the whistle blew at the end of the first half of a friendly at Suwon World Cup Stadium in Suwon, Gyeonggi on Saturday. [NEWS1]

Harry Kane, left, and Son Heung-min celebrate after Kane scores the opening goal in a friendly between Tottenham Hotspur and Sevilla at Suwon World Cup Stadium in Suwon, Gyeonggi on Saturday. [YONHAP]

Harry Kane, left, and Son Heung-min celebrate after Kane scores the opening goal in a friendly between Tottenham Hotspur and Sevilla at Suwon World Cup Stadium in Suwon, Gyeonggi on Saturday. [YONHAP]

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Tottenham's first day in Korea: Unlucky Joe Rodon, Clement Lenglet situation, training and Son

The Tottenham players touched down in Seoul a little while after our Spurs correspondent Alasdair Gold arrived in South Korea for the pre-season tour

  • 08:00, 11 JUL 2022
  • Updated 09:41, 12 JUL 2022

Heung-Min Son, Brandon Austin and Emerson Royal during the Tottenham Hotspur training session at Goyang Stadium on Sunday

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Tottenham's pre-season tour of South Korea is brought to you in association with Nord VPN , sponsors of football.london's coverage.

Tottenham Hotspur made a major splash with their arrival and first day of training in South Korea as you would expect for a team with one of the country's biggest stars welcoming his team-mates to his homeland.

Just a glimpse of Son Heung-min walking through Incheon International Airport's Terminal 2 arrivals area sent the awaiting fans into a frenzy. The sight of him then greeting his team-mates with a 'Welcome to Seoul' sign was the perfect touch and the faces of Antonio Conte and the players when they saw him as the arrival doors opened was one of genuine delight.

Spurs chairman Daniel Levy was the first man through to greet Son, followed by Conte , who gave him a warm embrace before a group of players who mostly make up the Tottenham's squad's senior stars and leadership group, followed. Harry Kane, Hugo Lloris, Eric Dier, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Ben Davies and Davinson Sanchez all hugged Son before posing for a photo with him and the country's flag, the towering Sanchez finding himself stuck slightly awkwardly on the end with his arm around the less towering Levy.

READ MORE: Levy meeting with Conte, Lucas fireworks and 11 things we learned from new Tottenham documentary

If you thought the hundreds of screaming fans were only there to see their compatriot Son, you would be wrong. There were some eye-catching and amusing highlights among the signs and shirts being brandished among the crowd, including an Oliver Skipp Norwich City top from the young midfielder's loan spell there, Kane and Dejan Kulusevski shirts and signs that ranged from 'Cuti? Cutie' to greet Cristian Romero to 'We will win trophies for the 2022-23 season'.

Behind the main group as they walked through was Tottenham's managing director of football Fabio Paratici, a man normally glued to his phone for business, but even he was filming everything on it for his own posterity. The pre-season tours always bring out passionate Spurs fans but to see the affection in Korea and to understand a slice of what life is like for a superstar like Son here was something special and this was only their first steps into the country.

The remainder of the players came through after Son and the first group had been ushered to the team's very modern coaches to take them into the city. New signing Richarlison and the rest poured through afterwards to more cheers and another summer arrival, Ivan Perisic, spent plenty of time signing Spurs and Croatia shirts before Tottenham staff eventually had to politely usher him towards the coaches that were waiting to leave.

Some players missed out on the flight from Heathrow. The perennially unlucky Joe Rodon through illness, discovered on the day of departure, and Tottenham's latest signing Clement Lenglet arrived at the club too late to receive a visa and will remain training at Hotspur Way this week.

He will be alongside Giovani Lo Celso, Tanguy Ndombele, Sergio Reguilon and Harry Winks, who will continue their pre-season preparations at the Enfield-based training ground as the club expects them to move on this summer. Alfie Devine and Dane Scarlett were given further time off following their recent triumph at the UEFA European Under-19 Championships.

The Covid testing rules remain firmly in place in Korea, with negative tests not only required before arrival but also again, within 72 hours of landing in the country, so Conte will be hoping that he does not lose any players to isolation during this week as he has plenty of gruelling sessions planned around the matches against the K-League XI and Sevilla.

Spare a thought for those excited young players who only found out late on that they were about to embark on one of the biggest experiences of their brief careers so far. Conte wanted to inform the younger players late in the process in order to keep them on their toes during training at Hotspur Way.

Summer tours normally have plenty of young players involved but with the large first team squad Spurs have right now and the lack of absent internationals, there were less spare seats on the plane.

Harvey White, 20, is a relatively old hand now with tour experience and having been part of the first team squad throughout last season under Conte. Troy Parrott and Malachi Fagan-Walcott, also both 20, have made their Tottenham debuts in recent seasons and Parrott experienced an Asian tour in 2019 when the club played in Singapore and Shanghai, but teenagers Charlie Sayers and Josh Keeley have certainly been thrust into the experience.

Sayers only turned 18 in March and joined Spurs for an undisclosed fee in December after breaking into the first team at National League side Southend United. The teenager can play as a centre-back or left-back and was drafted into the tour squad at the weekend as a late replacement for Rodon.

Nineteen-year-old Keeley is even more of newcomer, having arrived this summer from St Patrick's Athletic and now the Republic of Ireland U19 keeper will train with Hugo Lloris, fellow newcomer Fraser Forster and Brandon Austin in Korea this week, with goalkeeping coach Marco Savorani.

Nineteen-year-old Papar Matar Sarr is also getting his first experience of Spurs life, having joined last summer from Metz but remained at the Ligue 1 club on loan for the season. The Senegalese teenager will be adapting to life with his new team, but with his basic grasp of English will be leaning on the likes of Lloris and Ryan Sessegnon, who speaks fluent French, to help him along.

Tottenham's double training sessions will be held every morning and evening and the players had barely stepped off of their long flight before they were whisked away to the Goyang Stadium, north of the airport. The logic was that if they got straight out and started training and then slept well that evening then jet lag - with Korea eight hours ahead of UK time - might be less of an issue.

It didn't work for everyone of course. Ryan Mason was using the hotel gym at 4.20am as his body struggled to adjust to the big leap in time zones.

The training session in Goyang had been undertaken in the sweltering heat of the country right now. It's monsoon season in South Korea and that means temperatures of 34 degrees most days but also the possibility of heavy rain at any moment. The furnace-like heat is similar to Spurs' 2019 tour destination of Shanghai with the humidity high.

With that in mind some of the players utilised sleeveless training tops inside the multi-purpose stadium, which has an athletics track around its pitch. It was the home of K League side Goyang Zaicro for three years and has also hosted Son and the national team in the past.

Sunday's session took the form of a split between stretching drills, fitness work and then small-sided games with small nets. All of the new signings who had travelled were involved in some capacity, with Yves Bissouma, Forster and Richarlison taking part in both the fitness and ball work and Perisic just the fitness work as he continues to recover from the calf injury suffered in his last game for Inter in May.

Paratici could be seen watching on and talking individually with various players such as Son and Kulusevski, who he knows well after bringing him to Juventus in the past.

The training was behind closed doors, although some fans were waiting in the car park as the players arrived, and the team were set to train again on both Monday morning - while the UK slept - and then Monday evening, the latter in front of 6,000 at the Seoul World Cup Stadium, where Wednesday's match will be played.

Seoul is a fascinating place, a clash of very modern and traditional life, and this reporter's first evening in the city brought a simple jet-lagged stroll yet sights aplenty, not only in the architecture but also in the image of Son, so prominent in advertising around the capital.

My first day ended by getting into the spirit of the country as well as the Spurs theme. Korean football journalist Sungmo Lee took me to eat Cheolpan Dak-galbi, the speciality food from Sonny's hometown of Chuncheon. For those wondering, it's a slightly spiced chicken and it tastes wonderful, ours coming in two forms, with and without a cheese topping, with the rice cooked on the table in front of you.

We've only had a taste of Seoul so far, as have the Tottenham Hotspur players, but it looks set to be an experience to remember for all concerned.

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‘He’s bigger than K-pop’: How Son-mania is putting Spurs on the map in South Korea

Uruguay and South Korea played to a scoreless draw Thursday.

“I’m so excited my heart might explode,” is one teenage fan’s take.

“I feel too emotional,” says a woman who, at the age of 65, could be the youngster’s grandmother and struggles to get the words out. “Even though I’m quite old, to be able to see a national hero is just… I’m not the age to be chasing celebrities around but…”

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Fifteen-year-old Lee Young-su adds: “I’m not actually interested in football but this event was too exciting to miss.”

Young, old or casual football fan; it doesn’t really matter. Seoul’s Incheon International Airport on Sunday lunchtime brought together hundreds of fans straining to catch a glimpse of their idol Son Heung-min , who, with his Tottenham Hotspur team-mates, was heading back to London after a week, and two pre-season matches, in South Korea.

This ability to transcend all age groups and classes is part of what makes Son such a fascinating cultural phenomenon — and what makes his fame far outstrip even beloved K-pop idols who appeal to a smaller demographic.

Spurs are now hugely popular in South Korea in general (more on that later) but it’s the relationship between Son and his compatriots that has been the defining theme of this tour.

“I don’t think there’s a rival for Son when it comes to popularity here,” says Lee Sung-mo, who has covered Son’s career for Korean media since he moved to Tottenham in the summer of 2015 from Bayer Leverkusen in Germany and is one of their country’s most respected football writers.

“We have many pop stars, like BTS, and they have huge fanbases abroad but in South Korea, Son’s popularity doesn’t have any generation gap. At first, it was only football fans interested in Son but now it’s the whole country. Kids who are five or six until even 90 years old; grandfather, grandmother. Everybody.”

As well as the members of huge K-pop acts such as BTS, there are other big stars in this country — like Bong Joon-ho, the Oscar-winning director of Parasite, and Lee Jung-jae, star of Netflix’s hugely popular series Squid Game. But their popularity is said to be nothing like the level of Son’s.

Olivia, a 20-year-old Korean-Canadian who has come to the airport to see Son, says: “Sonny is the biggest star here. He gets loved anywhere, even more than any K-pop idols, because everyone loves him regardless of age or status.”

Son Heung-min, Tottenham Hotspur, South Korea

A 66-year-old supporter and her 34-year-old daughter present at the airport are testament to this, with the former describing herself as a “royalty-sized fan”. She adds: “He’s not my idol. He’s my hero. Because of Son, I got into football, and I stay up all night to watch his matches live.” (The time difference to Korea means evening games in Europe kick off at or around 4am local time).

Between them, the mother and daughter sport homemade t-shirts with “Son” written in pen on the back, and makeshift fans with his image on to keep cool.

Among the few hundred people in attendance, who mobilised mainly after discovering on social media what time the coach carrying the Tottenham players would arrive, these stories and personalised artefacts are typical.

Other supporters have brought food to try to give to Son and his team-mates, balls for him to sign, and laminated posters to wave around in appreciation of their hero. The nation’s biggest broadcasters are in place and some of the supporters in attendance have been here since the airport opened for the day, to get the best vantage points. Some fans attempted to find out what flight Spurs would be on, only to be scuppered by the fact they were using a chartered non-commercial plane.

There is hysteria everywhere, with security personnel trying to keep the peace. Spurs’ arrival a week earlier provoked even more excitable scenes — described by one of those in attendance as “surreal”.

Son was also given a hero’s welcome when presented with the Premier League Golden Boot for last season, after finishing as joint top-scorer with Mohamed Salah of Liverpool , at this same airport in May.

The noise on Sunday when the 30-year-old, wearing sunglasses and looking every inch the rockstar that he is in his homeland, appeared was similarly loud to the reception he received when turning up to welcome his team-mates when they flew in just over a week ago.

Everywhere Spurs went while on tour in South Korea, they were met by hundreds of supporters wanting to show their appreciation — be that at training, sponsored events or going out for dinner. Wherever they went, word always got around. Legions of fans stationed themselves outside the club’s hotel around the clock. K-pop stars joined Son at autograph signings, wearing Tottenham shirts.

Spurs staff and players were taken aback at the reception they have received. “I didn’t expect this,” says England defender Eric Dier . “An amazing reception at the airport and everywhere we’ve been since.”

“A god”, “a rockstar” and “royalty” are various ways Son has been described to The Athletic in the last few days. More idolised than David Beckham at the height of his fame is the view of former South Korea defender Lee Young-pyo, who spent three seasons at White Hart Lane from 2005.

At which point you might be thinking: “‘Superstar footballer is popular in his home country’. Is this really that unusual?”, and in some respects, the answer is no.

A player becoming one of the world’s best from a nation and continent with a pretty meagre record in that respect is always going to provoke hysteria when they return. It would probably be similar were Salah and Liverpool touring Egypt or if Sadio Mane and his new club Bayern Munich visited Senegal.

And yet there is something that feels special about Son in South Korea, that the confluence of, among other aspects, ability and personality have combined to make a country starved of top-level footballing talent feel like something that transcends the normal adulation afforded to sporting superstars.

Son Heung-min, Tottenham Hotspur, South Korea

“The traits that Son has are what most Korean men my age (mid-20s) would love to have and this is what makes him such an icon,” Michael Ji, one of Son’s compatriots, explains. “He’s tall, handsome, multilingual, athletic, successful overseas in a field where most Asians — let alone Koreans — are not known for success. And he’s achieved everything he has through hard work, overcoming the relative adversity of a pretty tough education from his father growing up.

“I always thought these were qualities that mainly resonated with young men like me but it’s how much he resonates with people from all ages that’s so incredible.”

Throughout the north London club’s week here, it felt as though their presence had taken over the whole city of Seoul — a buzz manifested in the omnipresent Spurs “Son” shirts.

Again, perhaps that is typical of Premier League teams’ overseas tours but even if you are cynical about the uniqueness of the Son in South Korea phenomenon, there are so many illustrations of it that feel remarkable.

Take the stalls selling Tottenham underwear in Busan, a port city on the southern tip of the country, or the fact that correlating almost exactly with Son’s emergence, football has overtaken baseball as his homeland’s most popular sport.

Then there are the regular programmes on the sports channels of SPO TV, the Korean TV network, that are simply compilations of Son’s best assists, or all his goals from last season’s Golden Boot-winning campaign .

Wherever you travel in this country, you will find Son.

One attendee at a recent conference on South-North Korea relations laughs as he recalls that on the coach from Seoul to the event, the DVD chosen by the driver to be broadcast communally was a Spurs end-of-season review.

In live broadcasts of Tottenham matches here, a Son icon appears above the scoreboard to denote he’s playing (there will be a bench one if he is named among the substitutes). If he scores or sets a goal up, icons appear by the scoreboard graphic to denote this too.

Spurs are now supported by an amazing 12 million — almost one in four — South Koreans (according to research commissioned by AIA, the Asia-based insurance firm which is the club’s shirt-front sponsor), but most things are viewed through a Son prism. “Son and Spurs beat X team” is a common structure for headlines.

Team-mate Lucas Moura is also hugely popular in the country, after setting up Son for his Golden Boot-clinching goal against Norwich on the final day of last season.

On the flip side, there was briefly frustration with Dier after he shouted at Son during the FA Cup loss to Middlesbrough in March, but he redeemed himself by asking already-relegated Norwich’s goalkeeper Tim Krul , “What’s Salah giving you?”, on the final day after he had made a string of saves to briefly delay Son’s charge towards becoming the league’s joint-top scorer.

Incidentally, that game was the only one of the 10 Premier League matches unfolding simultaneously on that Sunday being shown at the vast majority of sports bars both on the night and the following morning, when games are replayed because of the unhelpful time difference (those 4pm kick-offs started at midnight local time). Liverpool and Manchester City were playing out a thrilling conclusion to the title race at Anfield and the Etihad but in Korea, all eyes were on Carrow Road, Son’s pursuit of the Golden Boot and Spurs’ successful attempts to secure Champions League qualification.

A couple of fans at the airport explained that they regularly take photos of Son when he appears on their television, while others spoke of their Son memorabilia at home. One supporter admitted he’d palmed off his wife and children onto his parents so he could give up his Sunday morning to be at the airport, and catch a glimpse of Son.

And for more evidence of uniqueness, the fact that Son spent half an hour signing an autograph for pretty much everyone who had turned up at the airport and had to be dragged away by Tottenham staff helps to show why, in many people’s eyes, this goes beyond the ‘Player X is popular in Home Country Y’ paradigm.

There were supporters there who genuinely looked like they might be about to faint. It was The Beatles at JFK Airport in 1964 stuff.

Another element of his story which makes Son stand out is his loyalty to Spurs, given that he could easily have agitated for a transfer to a club more likely to win trophies over what’s been a barren seven years with them in silverware terms. This kind of devotion is unusual among modern players and even the similarly loyal Harry Kane was sufficiently fed up last summer to push for a move away after a grim couple of years for Tottenham . Acts of generosity like paying for the bill when he took the team out for Korean barbecue on Thursday night, and giving the whole 100+ travelling party personal welcome gifts further burnish his reputation as a special individual.

Son Heung-min, Tottenham Hotspur, South Korea

While they were in South Korea, Son’s popularity was felt everywhere by anyone with a Spurs connection.

One member of staff was asked for an autograph because he was wearing Tottenham gear. Even though he protested that the fan could not possibly have heard of him, it didn’t matter — the supporter still wanted it. Another was asked for their autograph by a restaurant waiter. Another had a passer-by insist they pick up their restaurant bill after spotting the Spurs clothing.

Coaches and senior members of staff have been mobbed by excited supporters, and at the airport yesterday — and wherever else they were — the whole squad, especially players such as Kane and Moura, were greeted with rapturous applause.

And it wasn’t just the players. Popular English and Korean journalists (including Lee Sung-mo) who cover Son regularly were also regularly asked for autographs, sometimes prompting long queues as fans waited patiently in line.

At a pop-up stall for Saturday’s game against Spanish side Sevilla in Suwon, about 30km (18 miles) south of Seoul, AIA had 500 people queuing for roughly an hour to have photos taken with cardboard cutouts of Tottenham’s players, including Son. The reward was a chance of also winning a Spurs scarf or hat.

In Son’s hometown of Chuncheon, 75km (46 miles) east of Seoul, there is a huge mural in his honour, while banners have been erected with messages like “Pride of Chuncheon, Pride of Tottenham… congratulations on qualifying for the Champions League and the Golden Boot”.

At the £11million ($13m) Son Football Academy he largely funded in the same city, a museum in his honour is in the planning stages. When he visited in June, there was hysteria similar to that at the airport on Sunday.

Stopping off at a motorway service station on the drive back from Chuncheon to Seoul, you see Son’s face front and centre of the popular Lotteria fast food restaurant. His return to Korea this summer, arriving before the rest of the Spurs squad did, prompted the chain to launch a “Made in Korea” campaign, where they created a new burger celebrating locally-sourced meat.

On the pitch, the Son factor could be seen in Tottenham’s first friendly against Team K League, an all-star squad of players from the domestic top flight’s 12 clubs, selling out the 66,000-capacity Seoul World Cup Stadium in 25 minutes. This is a ground that is sometimes about a quarter full for club games.

The queues for packed subway trains to the game stretched back hundreds of metres while the pre-match press conferences saw more than 100 journalists in attendance and a similar number of photographers.

For the Sevilla match in the 44,000-capacity Suwon World Cup Stadium, the tickets went in 20 minutes.

At both of Spurs’ friendlies during the tour, there were screams of excitement whenever Son touched the ball and the media was dominated with reports of how he’d performed.

“In the last few days, all Korean media in the newspapers are talking about Tottenham and only good things,” says Lee Sung-mo. “They’ve brought so many good things to Korean football.

“At the moment, Tottenham are getting more interest than Manchester United over here.”

Son Heung-min, Tottenham Hotspur, South Korea

Sevilla defender Gonzalo Montiel , who angrily confronted Son after being caught by a stray elbow in Saturday’s game, quickly became a pantomime villain among Korean fans on social media.

Son said of the mood in his home country during the tour: “I’ve been here with Leverkusen and also Hamburg (his first European club), but with Spurs, I think it’s more special because the fans are more interested in our football and the big players.

“It’s incredible. The fans, the love… we’re feeling the love the fans are giving us.”

The love was such that some at Spurs joked that they never wanted to leave. Certainly in line with Son’s popularity, the club’s profile and popularity in the country has risen and risen over the last few weeks, months and years.

As well as being the most-watched and best-supported overseas club in South Korea, that friendly against Team K League was streamed by two million people — the single most-streamed sporting event in Korean history.

Since the start of the new financial year on July 1, South Korea has become Spurs’ second biggest e-commerce market behind only the UK. Sales in that period to Korea are now half that of the UK and nearly twice as much as for the whole United States.

During this period compared to last year (July 1 to July 15), the number of transactions to South Korea increased from 238 to 5,283. Of those, 4,800 included a home shirt. On matchdays at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, up to 700 Son shirts are sold — the most of any player “by a big distance”.

In Korea, Son’s popularity is such that the national team’s shirt is sold out and pretty much impossible to get hold of. Spurs shirts with his name on the back are ubiquitous — even with kits from almost 30 years ago.

The big question from Tottenham’s point of view is the extent to which their popularity in South Korea will last once Son has left or retired. That’s part of what this tour was about: consolidating the huge popularity they have in the country and making it go beyond the lifespan of Son’s career with the club.

Supporting a player rather than a team is an increasing trend among younger football fans, especially in East Asia — as Simon Chadwick, Global Professor of Sport & Director of the Centre for Eurasian Sport at the Emlyon Business School, explained to The Athletic in 2020 .

“There is an emerging trend among football fans globally but particularly in East Asia, and with younger Generation Z and Millennial fans, where engagement with a player is not necessarily the prelude to engagement with a team,” Chadwick said. “What we’re instead seeing is that fans are following players, not clubs.

“In Britain, something similar is happening where there are a lot of young fans who love (Paris Saint-Germain striker Kylian) Mbappe. They don’t care about Paris Saint-Germain, they just love Mbappe.”

Speaking to experts in Korea and fans on the ground here, the sense is that, yes, there will be a natural drop-off once Son goes but his Spurs legacy will ensure that many of these people will remain fans of the London club when he finally moves on or hangs up his boots.

The fact he is now unlikely to transfer to another elite club should help in this regard. Were he to move to, say, Real Madrid , he would likely take a huge number of fans with him.

According to Lee Hyeong-ju, a Seoul-based journalist for STN Sports, the fact that local fans, so often forced to miss live TV games because of the time difference to Europe, were able to actually watch the games as they happened during the last week has made a big difference to how they feel about Spurs.

“If fans want to see matches live, they have to stay up very late, so that’s hard to keep fan engagement,” he says. “But the fact fans were able to see matches, and the training session, live elevated the connection between fans and the club. So I think this was an important tour to help Spurs solidify the fanbase and their popularity here.

“There will definitely be a reduction in interest in Korea when Son leaves. The same happened with Park Ji-sung — Manchester United were very popular but when he left the popularity dropped quite considerably. So if Son left, we might see the same thing but the connection, plus the fact that Lee (Young-pyo) was there means it might not drop so significantly.”

Speaking to Son/Spurs fans in Seoul, some say they are essentially supporters just of the player but the majority, admittedly possibly drunk on the excitement of this week, insist they will remain Tottenham fans after their hero calls it a day.

“I love Tottenham,” says Yong Son-lee, a 48-year-old wearing a club kit and a father of two similarly Spurs and Son-mad boys. “I’ll follow the team forever, because Son is so ingrained in the team and is a legend of the club.”

One slightly younger fan says: “I will always watch their games, and the highlights as well. Of course I will support Spurs after Son leaves.” Another adds: “I don’t think my love for Spurs will wane too much, because of how much Son loves Spurs. If Son moved, I would support that team and Spurs.”

Having spent the last week in South Korea, what has shone through is the pride the country’s people feel when it comes to Son: pride at his achievements on the pitch and also in the way he carries himself, and goes out of his way to make time for others. Associated with this, there is a huge amount of affection towards Spurs for being the club who have helped him to explode into a global name.

Whether the bond between Son and his compatriots is unprecedented is unclear but the abiding memory for anyone in Seoul and Suwon over the last week will be of the love shown towards the forward and his team-mates. Of the scenes at the airport on Sunday, when the world was given a glimpse of Son-mania.

“I’ll never forget this,” said one adoring fan.

It was hard to disagree.

(Top photo: Tottenham Hotspur FC/Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images)

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Charlie Eccleshare

Charlie Eccleshare is a football journalist for The Athletic, mainly covering Tottenham Hotspur. He joined in 2019 after five years writing about football and tennis at The Telegraph. Follow Charlie on Twitter @ cdeccleshare

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Tottenham confirms post-season friendly vs. Newcastle in Melbourne

Spurs are heading Down Under to play in Big Ange’s adopted home town.

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Share All sharing options for: Tottenham confirms post-season friendly vs. Newcastle in Melbourne

FBL-WC-2022-MATCH37-AUS-DEN-FANS

Today, Tottenham Hotspur confirmed plans for the team to travel Down Under at the conclusion of this current Premier League season. Spurs will travel to Melbourne to play against Newcastle United in a friendly at the 100k-seater Melbourne Cricket Ground on May 22.

We will return Down Under in May as we head to Melbourne, Australia for a post-season visit, capped off by a friendly against Newcastle United ️ Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) ️ Wednesday 22 May, kick-off 7:45pm local time — Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) March 18, 2024

This has apparently been in the works since late January after Tottenham crashed out of the FA Cup , and we wrote about it then . It’s an opportunity to take the team on the road to Melbourne, Ange Postecoglou’s adopted hometown, and a place where he is wildly popular with the locals. (There are apparently Ange murals... plural... in Melbourne.) The Melbourne Cricket Ground is a massive stadium, home to the Australian Football League Grand Final every year. Considering Postecoglou’s (and Tottenham’s) popularity in Australia, I bet Spurs can attract a pretty decent crowd to see a match against Geordia Arabia.

It’s also the last opportunity to see this current Spurs team play football before everyone disperses, including to their national teams for the European Championships. This will be the first post-season tour for Spurs since their trip to Hong Kong after the 2016-17 season; Tottenham have already announced another international trip to Korea and other parts of Asia in the 2024-25 preseason.

I know we have a pretty decent Aussie contingent on this website, and so I’d like to know — if you’re currently upside down relative to me, are you planning to go?

More From Cartilage Free Captain

  • Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg “not happy” with reduced playing time
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#Men'sFirstTeam #International #Heung-MinSon

Another goal for Sonny as he hits 125 cap milestone

Heung-Min Son struck for Korea for the second time this international break as he led his nation back to winning ways with a 3-0 win over Thailand in Bangkok on Tuesday.

Earning his 125th cap for his country as they took on their fourth match of their World Cup qualifying Second Round group, our skipper struck nine minutes into the second half with his 46th international goal, running the ball to the byline before firing in through the goalkeeper's legs to double the Taegeuk Warriors' lead following Lee Jae-Sung's 19th-minute opener.

With eight minutes remaining Park Jin-Seop wrapped up the victory with Korea's third at the Rajamangala Stadium.

Sonny's nation remain top of their group and still hold an unbeaten record with two qualifiers - both set to be played this June - to come.

Watch Sonny's strike in Bangkok

Sonny on target for @theKFA ! 😍 pic.twitter.com/WOoKtF0Hu1 — Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) March 26, 2024

Watch - Sonny takes on Ben Davies in AIA Cooking Challenge

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IMAGES

  1. Son Heung-Min welcomed his Tottenham teammates to Korea, and then gave

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  2. Tottenham Hotspur announce Summer tour to South Korea

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  3. Tottenham's 66K tickets for Korean tour sold out in 25min. "still

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  4. The Business Behind Tottenham Hotspur’s Preseason Korean Tour

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  5. [KTO] [LONDON] Korea Tourism Organisation partners with Tottenham

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  6. CSM

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COMMENTS

  1. Club to face Team K League in opening Korea Tour match

    Club to face Team K League in opening Korea Tour match. @SpursOfficial. Thu 14 April 2022, 00:00 | Tottenham Hotspur. We will face Team K League - a selection of the best players from Korea's professional league - in the first match of our pre-season tour of Korea this summer, supported by the Club's Principal Partner, AIA.

  2. The Business Behind Tottenham Hotspur's Preseason Korean Tour

    Tottenham Hotspur started their preseason with a tour of South Korea packed with media appearances, grueling training sessions, and Korean barbecue. They might have sold a lot of shirts, but the ...

  3. Korea tour squad confirmed

    Korea tour squad confirmed. @SpursOfficial. Sat 09 July 2022, 17:45 | Tottenham Hotspur. The squad for our matches against Team K League (Wednesday 13 July, 8pm local, 12noon UK) and Sevilla (Saturday 16 July, 8pm local, 12noon UK) in the Coupang Play Series in Korea has been confirmed as follows... Hugo Lloris.

  4. Sevilla announced as second Korea Tour opponents

    Sevilla announced as second Korea Tour opponents. @SpursOfficial. Mon 23 May 2022, 23:00 | Tottenham Hotspur. Our Men's First Team will take on Sevilla FC at the Suwon World Cup Stadium on Saturday 16 July, 8pm kick-off (local time), in the second match of our summer tour of South Korea. The match will form part of the Coupang Play Series ...

  5. Harry Kane on target as Spurs finish tour in South Korea

    Watch extended highlights from Tottenham Hotspur's 1-1 win over Sevilla at the Suwon World Cup Stadium! SPURSPLAY is live! Check it out now https://bit.ly/...

  6. Heung-Min Son directs his own South Korea tour promo

    Heung-Min Son is joined by Steven Bergwijn, Dejan Kulusevski and Joe Rodon as he directs his very own promo for Tottenham Hotspur's pre-season tour in South ...

  7. Tottenham confirm first opponents on South Korea pre-season tour ahead

    Tottenham have confirmed that they will face Team K League in the first match of their pre-season tour of South Korea this summer. With the coronavirus pandemic stopping clubs travelling abroad for friendly fixtures over the past two years, Spurs will be back on the road in July when they head to Asia. Having announced their pre-season summer tour of South Korea back in February, the club have ...

  8. Tottenham confirm South Korea pre-season tour squad as six first-team

    Tottenham news and transfers LIVE: All the latest updates and rumours from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium; Full Tottenham Premier League fixture list for 2022/23; Troy Parrott, Kion Etete, Sarr and the 5 Tottenham players hoping for pre-season tour chance; Tottenham's August and September TV fixtures confirmed with Champions League decision

  9. Tottenham Hotspur announces pre-season squad for South Korean tour

    Tottenham Hotspur released the list of players going on the pre-season tour with Antonio Conte, and there were few surprises among the names. With Conte joining midseason last year, this pre-season was always going to be significant. With the first two matches coming in South Korea, the timeline for getting players signed and into the club was ...

  10. Tottenham Hotspur to visit Korea in July

    Tottenham Hotspur and the Korea Tourism Organization announced that Tottenham's pre-season tour to Korea will be in July. Through the new partnership, Korea Tourism Organization advertisements will be shown during games at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

  11. Tottenham announce South Korea pre-season tour in the summer

    As per the Evening Standard, Tottenham Hotspur have announced that South Korea is a destination for their pre-season tour in the summer.. Covid had taken away foreign pre-season tours from Premier League clubs, with travel restrictions and bio-bubbles making it hard for top-flight teams to travel to different continents and work up their fitness with pre-season matches.

  12. Tottenham confirm pre-season summer tour to South Korea with more to

    Tottenham Hotspur will embark on a summer pre-season tour to Son Heung-min's homeland of South Korea this summer. The pandemic put paid to global trips in the past two summers and Spurs had planned to head to South Korea in 2020 before the changing nature of the world ended those hopes. Now they have announced that Antonio Conte and his squad ...

  13. Tottenham to travel to South Korea for 2022-23 preseason tour

    Tottenham Hotspur will travel abroad on a preseason tour to South Korea this coming summer ahead of the 2022-23 season. We are delighted to announce that the Men's first team will travel to ...

  14. Tottenham to play preseason match vs. Sevilla in Korea on July 16

    Tottenham Hotspur's preseason tour to South Korea is set, and they'll be meeting up with an old friend while they're there.The club announced that Spurs are set to play Sevilla in the second ...

  15. Tottenham 1-1 Sevilla

    Tottenham 1-1 Sevilla — Spurs end Korea tour with draw in Suwon. ... SUWON, Gyeonggi — As friendlies go, Tottenham Hotspur and Sevilla's exhibition game at Suwon World Cup Stadium in Suwon, Gyeonggi on Saturday evening was fairly unfriendly, with increasingly physical tackles, a number of heated clashes and a lot of pushing and shoving to ...

  16. The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium Tour

    Stadium Tour. Step behind the scenes at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on this immersive, self-guided experience. Walk in the footsteps of your favourite players and gain exclusive access to men's first-team areas and learn about how the stadium has been designed to create one of the best matchday experiences in the world.

  17. Tottenham Hotspur announces partnership with Korea Tourism Organisation

    Tue 03 May 2022, 00:00 | Tottenham Hotspur. Tottenham Hotspur and the Korea Tourism Organisation are pleased to announce a partnership that will see both parties work together in the lead up to and during the Club's pre-season tour to Korea this July. The Korea Tourism Organisation (KTO) is the National Tourism Organisation of the Republic of ...

  18. Tottenham could play Harry Kane and Bayern Munich in Seoul this summer

    A Korean media reported today that both Tottenham and Bayern Munich are visiting Seoul this summer as part of their pre-season tour. The media reported Spurs will play 2 games in Seoul, the same ...

  19. Son directs his own South Korea tour promo!

    Heung-Min Son is joined by Steven Bergwijn, Dejan Kulusevski and Joe Rodon as he directs his very own promo for Tottenham Hotspur's pre-season tour in South Korea this summer.

  20. Tottenham Hotspur Stadium Visitor Attractions & Experiences

    Stadium Tours. Step behind the scenes at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on this immersive, self-guided experience. Walk in the footsteps of your favourite players and gain exclusive access to men's first-team areas and learn about how the stadium has been designed to create one of the best matchday experiences in the world.

  21. South Korea catches 'Spursmania' for Son Heung-min and Tottenham's

    Tottenham's South Korean star Son Heung-min made an unannounced appearance from his vacation to welcome his teammates visiting his home country for a preseason tour. Local fans reacted to ...

  22. Tottenham's first day in Korea: Unlucky Joe Rodon, Clement Lenglet

    Tottenham's pre-season tour of South Korea is brought to you in association with Nord VPN, sponsors of football.london's coverage.. Tottenham Hotspur made a major splash with their arrival and first day of training in South Korea as you would expect for a team with one of the country's biggest stars welcoming his team-mates to his homeland.

  23. Son-mania in South Korea: Putting Tottenham on the map in East Asia

    Olivia, a 20-year-old Korean-Canadian who has come to the airport to see Son, says: "Sonny is the biggest star here. He gets loved anywhere, even more than any K-pop idols, because everyone ...

  24. Tottenham confirms post-season friendly vs. Newcastle in Melbourne

    This will be the first post-season tour for Spurs since their trip to Hong Kong after the 2016-17 season; Tottenham have already announced another international trip to Korea and other parts of ...

  25. Aston Villa 0-4 Tottenham Hotspur: Visitors close on Champions League

    Aston Villa 0, Tottenham Hotspur 3. Son Heung-Min (Tottenham Hotspur) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the high centre of the goal. Assisted by Dejan Kulusevski.

  26. Another goal for Sonny as Korea return to winning ways

    Another goal for Sonny as Korea return to winning ways. @SpursOfficial. Tue 26 March 2024, 14:45 | Tottenham Hotspur. Heung-Min Son struck for Korea for the second time this international break as he led his nation back to winning ways with a 3-0 win over Thailand in Bangkok on Tuesday. Earning his 125th cap for his country as they took on ...