National soccer player Son Heung-min has effectively won the appeal in a legal dispute with his former agent, with whom he had maintained a relationship for the past 10 years.
On the 11th, at the Seoul World Cup Stadium, Son Heung-min of Korea, who won 1-0 against China in the 6th match of Group C in the 2nd round of the 2026 CONCACAF World Cup Asian qualifiers, is applauding the audience. [Image source=Yonhap News]
On the 19th, the Civil Division 12-3 of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judges Park Hyung-joon, Jang Seok-jo, Bae Gwang-guk) partially accepted the claims of ICM Stella Korea Co., Ltd. (formerly Sports United·ICM), which filed a lawsuit against Son Heung-min’s father Son Woong-jung’s company, Son & Football Limited, regarding settlement payments.
The court ruled that Son & Football Limited must pay ICM a total of 440 million KRW in advertising contract settlements, including 247.67 million KRW recognized by the first trial court.
However, the court dismissed the claim for damages amounting to approximately 1.8 billion KRW, stating, “Although the plaintiff filed the case based on the defendant’s fault, it is judged that the contract was terminated due to the plaintiff’s fault breaking the trust relationship.”
Previously, in November 2019, Son Heung-min notified Jang, the representative of ICM, of contract termination. Jang had helped Son Heung-min study abroad in Germany in 2008 and had acted as his domestic agent for over 10 years, but conflicts reportedly arose during the process of Jang selling the company in 2019.
After the contract termination, Jang filed a lawsuit against Son & Football Limited, Son Heung-min’s exclusive management company.
Jang claimed that a valid exclusive agent contract existed between his company, Son Heung-min, and Son & Football Limited, and demanded unpaid advertising fees and damages for unilateral contract termination.
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