Tottenham's Son Heung-min holds up the trophy after winning the Europa League final soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United at the San Mames Stadium in Bilbao, Spain, May 21. AP-Yonhap
Tottenham's Son Heung-min holds up the trophy after winning the Europa League final soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United at the San Mames Stadium in Bilbao, Spain, May 21. AP-Yonhap
Korean football icon Son Heung-min has had a whirlwind of a year, winning his first trophy in Europe with Tottenham Hotspur and then moving across the Atlantic to join Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) in Major League Soccer (MLS).
Son's memorable year was voted the No. 1 Korean sports story for 2024, in Yonhap News Agency's annual survey of 34 domestic newspapers, broadcasters and online outlets.
Sports journalists nationwide were asked to vote on newsworthy stories, with a first-place vote worth 10 points. Son's season came out on top with 276 points.
On May 21, Son captained Tottenham Hotspur to the Europa League crown over Manchester United. It was the first trophy for Son in his 15-year European career and also Tottenham's first title of any kind in 17 years.
It was a feel-good ending to what had otherwise been a trying Premier League season for Son, who finished with just seven goals in 30 league matches after reaching double figures in every campaign since 2016-17. Son missed time due to multiple injuries and started showing signs that he had lost a step and could no longer be considered an inevitable force in the top English league.
In this Getty Images photo, Son Heung-min of Los Angeles Football Club acknowledges fans after defeating Austin FC during the 2025 MLS Cup Playoffs at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, California, Oct. 29. AFP-Yonhap
In this Getty Images photo, Son Heung-min of Los Angeles Football Club acknowledges fans after defeating Austin FC during the 2025 MLS Cup Playoffs at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, California, Oct. 29. AFP-Yonhap
Then on Aug. 2, while in his native Korea for Tottenham's summer tour, Son announced he was leaving the North London club after 10 seasons. LAFC unveiled Son four days later, in a press conference attended by, among others, LA Mayor Karen Bass.
Son instantly became the biggest MLS star on this side of Lionel Messi, scoring goals and setting up teammates with impressive regularity and drawing huge crowds at every away stop. He had nine goals in 10 regular-season matches and added three more in three playoff contests.
While Son reigned supreme as the country's most beloved athlete, baseball remained the most popular sport. In 2025, the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) broke its single-season record for the second straight year, drawing just over 12.31 million fans. The achievement ranked second in Yonhap's survey with 250 points.
When he wasn't busy starring for Tottenham or LAFC, Son also captained Korea to their 11th consecutive trip to the FIFA World Cup. But the path to the big tournament was anything but smooth, with Korea submitting lackluster performances against underdogs Palestine, Oman and Jordan.
Hardly popular among fans to begin with for his choice of Hong Myung-bo as head coach from the summer of 2024, Korea Football Association President Chung Mong-gyu faced even louder calls for resignation. The drama surrounding the men's national football team checked in at No. 3 in the rankings with 233 points.
Another baseball story came in at No. 4. The LG Twins knocked off the Hanwha Eagles in five games in the best-of-seven Korean Series in October for their second title in three seasons, and their run to the top of the KBO earned 202 points.
Olympic table tennis champion Ryu Seung-min, right, celebrates his victory in the election for president of the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee at the Olympic Hall inside Olympic Park in Seoul, Jan. 14. Yonhap
Olympic table tennis champion Ryu Seung-min, right, celebrates his victory in the election for president of the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee at the Olympic Hall inside Olympic Park in Seoul, Jan. 14. Yonhap
Korea welcomed a new head of its top national sports body, as Ryu Seung-min, the 2004 Olympic men's table tennis gold medalist, unseated the incumbent Lee Kee-heung as president of the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee. Ryu's victory earned 152 points to rank fifth.
Badminton star An Se-young, fresh off a year in which she earned her first Olympic gold medal in the women's singles, posted another dominant 2025 season. She has won 10 of her 14 international tournaments so far this season, with the Badminton World Federation World Tour Finals coming up this week. An is the first women's singles player to reach double digits in wins in a season, and her sustained run of success ranked sixth with 147 points.
A tragic story ranked seventh in Yonhap's survey with 119 points. During a KBO regular-season game between the LG Twins and the NC Dinos at Changwon NC Park in the southeastern town of Changwon on March 29, a loose piece of louver fell from a window above a concession stand and struck an unsuspecting fan below. The fan died of a head injury two days later, prompting extensive safety inspections at the stadium and forcing the Dinos to spend the next several weeks on the road.
A story centered on another iconic athlete came in at eighth with 116 points. Volleyball superstar Kim Yeon-koung announced her plan to retire in February, with her Heungkuk Life Pink Spiders in the midst of their V-League season, and Kim went out on top by leading her club to the championship in April. In a storybook ending, Kim won both the regular-season and the finals MVP awards. It was Kim's seventh regular-season MVP and fourth finals MVP.
Cody Ponce of the Hanwha Eagles poses with the trophy after winning the Korea Baseball Organization regular-season MVP award during the awards ceremony at Lotte Hotel World in Seoul, Nov. 24. Yonhap
Cody Ponce of the Hanwha Eagles poses with the trophy after winning the Korea Baseball Organization regular-season MVP award during the awards ceremony at Lotte Hotel World in Seoul, Nov. 24. Yonhap
The KBO crowned a new MVP winner this year, as Hanwha Eagles starting pitcher Cody Ponce earned the honor after winning the Triple Crown. He led the KBO with 17 wins, a 1.89 ERA and a league-record 252 strikeouts, and his dominant season earned 83 points to finish ninth in the Yonhap survey.
Ponce became the first Eagles player to be voted MVP since Ryu Hyun-jin, his rotation mate, in 2006.
In addition to breaking the single-season strikeout record, Ponce also set the mark for the most strikeouts in a nine-inning game, with 18 against the SSG Landers on May 17. Ryu had held the previous mark of 17. Ponce claimed another KBO record by winning his first 17 decisions in a row — the longest winning streak by a pitcher from the start of a season.
Ponce parlayed that success into a three-year, $30 million contract with the Toronto Blue Jays.
Rounding out the top 10 with 76 points was the resurgent season by Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors in the top football league, K League 1. Under new head coach Gus Poyet, Jeonbuk cruised to their league-record 10th title and clinched it with five matches to spare on Oct. 18.
After capturing a K League-record fifth consecutive title in 2021, Jeonbuk ceded the crown to Ulsan HD FC, who reeled off three straight championships from 2022 to 2024. And in 2024, Jeonbuk nearly suffered relegation to the K League 2, as they had to survive a promotion-relegation playoff against a second-division foe.
Jeonbuk did not record a win in their first four matches of this season, with two losses and two draws. And then they went on a 22-match undefeated streak with 17 wins and five draws — tying for the third-longest such run in K League history.
Jeonbuk pulled off a domestic double by also winning the Korea Cup title on Dec. 6. And only two days later, Poyet announced he will step down after just one season in the K League 1 — ostensibly because his trusted lieutenant, Mauricio Taricco, had resigned earlier after being suspended by the league for what it deemed a racist gesture toward a referee during a heated in-game exchange in November.
Given his pedigree and instant success in Korea, Poyet and his backroom staff will likely resurface elsewhere before too long.