Son Heung-min’s Spurs to face Kim Min-jae’s Bayern in August Korean derby

Football

Published: 29 Mar. 2024, 13:42 Updated: 31 Mar. 2024, 15:55

Son Heung-min’s Spurs to face Kim Min-jae’s Bayern in August Korean derby

Korea's Kim Min-jae, left, and Son Heung-min train at the Al-Egla training ground in Doha, Qatar on Feb. 4. [YONHAP]

Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur will meet the Bundesliga’s Bayern Munich in a friendly in August that will put Son Heung-min and Kim Min-jae, two of Korea’s most-beloved players, on opposite ends of the pitch.

Spurs and Bayern will face off at Tottenham Hotspur stadium in London, England on August 10 as part of the Visit Malta Cup, a showcase match presented by Malta’s tourism industry, the two clubs announced Wednesday.

Both Son, 31, and Kim, 27, are veteran players and regular picks for the Korean national team. They last shared a bench during Korea’s 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Thailand this month — though neither spent much time on the sidelines. Both played the full 90 minutes in Korea’s 1-1 draw on March 21 at home in Seoul and 3-0 victory on March 26 in Thailand.

Korea captain and forward Son scored in both of those games, saving Korea from what would have been an embarrassing loss to a significantly lower-ranked team and winning redemption from a disappointing draw to wrap up players’ international duty under an interim manager.

Korea's Son Heung-min, left, and Thailand's Suphanan Bureerat battle for the ball during a 2026 World Cup qualifier at Rajamangala national stadium in Bangkok, Thailand on March 26. [AP/YONHAP]

Kim, meanwhile, recorded an important assist in Korea’s away match in Thailand, heading the ball straight to Park Jin-seop who put it into the net to seal the 3-0 win.

Korea's Kim Min-Jae, left, fights for the ball with Thailand midfielder Chanathip Songkrasin during a 2025 World Cup qualifier at the Rajamangala National Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand on March 26. [AFP/YONHAP]

The relationship between the two Korea stars has long attracted huge public interest. They were briefly involved in an alleged tiff last spring, when Kim appeared to unfollow Son on Instagram after the Korea captain expressed his commitment to the national team after their 2-1 loss against Uruguay in a friendly last April — a perceived contradiction to Kim’s comments in a post-match interview about wanting to focus on his club. Kim privately and publicly apologized to Son, according to a statement released by his agency.

No, Kim Min-jae did not say he wants to quit the Korean national team

Son Heung-min speaks with Kim Min-jae as they prepare for extra time in the round of 16 match between Korea and Saudi Arabia at the 2023 AFC Asian Cup held at the Allyan Education City Stadium in Qatar on Jan. 31. [NEWS1]

Both Spurs and Bayern are among the strongest teams in their leagues — Spurs sit at No. 5 in the Premier League and Bayern at No. 2 in the Bundesliga as of press time Friday.

While the two sides last faced off in the 2019-20 UEFA Champions League, it will be the first time Bayern meets Spurs with Kim on their lineup. Kim joined the German club as a center back in 2023 from Italian Serie A side Napoli while Son, a forward, has been with Spurs since 2015, moving to England from the Bundesliga’s Bayer Leverkusen.

Kim Min-jae joins Bayern Munich on five-year deal

Bayern's Kim Min-jae, left, and Leverkusen's Florian Wirtz challenge for the ball during a match at the BayArena in Leverkusen, Germany, on Feb. 10. [AP/YONHAP]

Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-Min, center, vies for the ball during a match against Fulham at Craven Cottage in London, England on March 16. [AFP/YONHAP]

The match will also be a homecoming for Bayern striker Harry Kane, the captain of the English national team who spent more than decade at Spurs and is the club’s all-time top goalscorer, at 280 goals. Son, who is Spurs’ fifth all-time top goalscorer, has 160.

Tickets for the Spurs-Bayern, Son-Kim face-off cost 30 pounds ($38) for adults, according to the Tottenham Hotspur website.

Bayern is also set to visit Korea for the first time this summer as part of the Coupang Play Series, with dates yet to be announced.

BY MARY YANG [mary.yang@joongang.co.kr]