Los Angeles Football Club embrace community as L.A.’s Korean fans fall in love with South Korean Son Heung Min

When Son Heung-Min joined Los Angeles FC from Tottenham Hotspur during the summer transfer window, expectations were high for what he could deliver on the pitch. It’s safe to say that in his short tenure he has exceeded them. With 10 goals and three assists since playing his first match for the black and gold in August, he led the team to the joint-best record in the league alongside Inter Miami. But that’s not the only place where Sonny has made an impact.

Off the pitch, bringing a South Korean superstar to a city that has the largest Korean population in the United States has also brought a level of representation to fans, energizing a passionate community. Before LAFC even kicked a ball in 2018, a Korean Supporters group, the Tigers Supporters group, formed, but little did they know that things would take off to this level as Son’s arrival has kicked soccer into the stratosphere in Los Angeles.

“The first thing that changed is that all the Korean friends and family we were asking to come be part of supporting this club when it first started have finally started coming out,” Tigers member Sam Ko said about the impact of Son’s arrival. “It’s great to see the support that shows up every four years during the World Cup is at BMO whenever Sonny’s in town. Koreans are a proud people, L.A. Koreans in particular, and having Sonny here makes us puff our chest out a little further.”

“What’s even more beautiful is the ripple effect,” Tigers member Daniel “Deech” Chung said. “I love seeing so many new Korean fans fill the stands, waving the Korean flag, it’s beautiful. Even my dad, who never really cared about what I was doing with TSG, now acknowledges that LAFC is a team worth mentioning.”

As Los Angeles prepares to host World Cup matches in 2026, this isn’t something that’s lost on the club either. While they want the club to represent the community, Son isn’t the first South Korean to play for the team, as Kim Moon-Hwan holds that distinction, being a member of the club from 2021 to 2022. And identifying with the communities in their city isn’t something new to the club either. When LAFC were founded, one of the first things that they did was sign Mexican international Carlos Vela, something that has prepared the club for properly handling the balance of embracing culture while still being authentic about how they do it.

LAFC are no strangers to having global stars at the club. Giorgio Chiellini, Gareth Bale, and Oliver Giroud have all donned the Black and Gold, but none have brought the same mania that Son has in such a short time with the club. As co-president Larry Freedman said, Sonny is a perfect fit at the club.

“He fits the culture inside the club. He fits the culture in the community … and then there’s this wonderful connection with the Korean American community, which is just undeniable,” Freedman said. “And you know, you don’t always have the luxury of getting that authentic fit on all counts. But, you know this, this feels like one of those rare times.”

In the greater makeup of the 3252, LAFC’s independent supporters union, there’s a full partnership between LAFC’s nine recognized supporters groups coming from different walks of life in Los Angeles to come together to cheer on their team as they look to win the MLS Cup for the first time since 2022, and the second time in their young history. If they can make the final, it would be the third time in the past four years that LAFC have been there, which is quite an impressive feat of ensuring that they’re successful on the pitch while recognizing the community off of it.

Even as their playoff run begins on Wednesday, the Black and Gold will kick off a first of it’s kind partnership with HYBE to bring a fan celebration to BMO Stadium that brings a celebration of Korean Culture from K-pop to food and including local vendors as well. It’s an embrace of culture that even fans didn’t see coming.

“Sure, there is a growing appreciation for K-pop and Korean beauty products, food, etc., but to have this level of exposure on a national scale is incredible! I’m excited to see what comes from this, maybe a NEW JEANS halftime show?!,” Deech said.

In a way, all of this is also preparation for the World Cup, where cultures from around the world will be on display. What LAFC is doing to highlight what makes them special is something that American soccer will be doing on a larger scale in the summer of 2026, and it should be taken notice of.

“We’re now in our eighth season playing, and we’ve been, you know, we’ve been doing this for eight years. And this is convincing people who say things like, ‘I don’t like sports, I don’t do sports,’ or ‘I don’t understand soccer. I don’t like soccer; offsides is an impossible thing to understand,’ whatever the reason, and we like to say to people, come one time, just come one time. Experience, the 3252 experience, the brand of football we play, and how exciting that is, and the energy in the stadium when we play, ” Freedman said. “And you know, you let us know if it was worth your time. And invariably, those first timers, sometimes it’s before half time, but certainly before they’re leaving at the end, they’re already talking about wanting to come back.”

With more stars coming to MLS by the season, especially after the arrival of Lionel Messi in 2023, the league is in a great position to use the World Cup as a platform to reach new heights, so its important at the club level that things are moving in the right direction. Ko put it best, because while it’s important to win with the players on the pitch, it’s about how soccer can bring people together and create a community. 

“I’m interested to see how the K-pop world and soccer world collide. K-pop fandom is a phenomenon, and it surprises me all the time,” Ko said. “I hope that some of that energy can be brought to LAFC and stays even when Sonny decides to hang it up, because players will always come and go, but the community is forever.”