Son Heung-min, 33 years old, winning the UEFA Europa League was selected as one of the 2025 football world’s miracles. The German statistical media outlet ‘Transfermarkt’ included Son Heung-min’s first UEFA Europa League victory, achieved 16 years after his professional debut, in its list of the “2025 Football World’s 8 Major Miracles” announced on the 25th.
Son Heung-min, who made his professional debut in 2010 with Hamburger SV in the German Bundesliga, swept major individual awards such as the EPL (English Premier League) top scorer and the FIFA (International Football Federation) Puskás Award, establishing himself as a top-tier attacker in Europe. However, he remained distant from winning major titles. In 2019, he reached the UEFA Champions League final but shed tears after a 0-2 defeat to Liverpool, and he also failed to lift the trophy in either the Bundesliga or the EPL.
Last May, in the 2024-2025 UEFA Europa League final, he broke his title drought by defeating Manchester United 1-0. As captain, he also had the honor of lifting the trophy during the victory ceremony. The triumph was particularly poignant for his club, Tottenham Hotspur, as it was their first title in 17 years. The news of Son Heung-min and Tottenham Hotspur’s victory was not only a major topic in England and South Korea but also across the entire European football community at the time. In this list of “8 Major Miracles,” Son Heung-min was the only individual player, rather than a team or nation, to be selected.
Other “8 Major Miracles” included Curaçao’s historic qualification for the FIFA World Cup, Newcastle’s EFL Cup (League Cup) victory ending a 56-year trophy drought, and Crystal Palace’s first-ever FA Cup triumph.
