Jurgen Klinsmann, the coach of South Korea, has asked the Chinese government to let Son Jun-ho go before Christmas so that he can play in the World Cup.
In May, Beijing’s foreign ministry said that the 31-year-old had been arrested “on suspicion of accepting bribes by non-state employees,” but they didn’t say what the payments were.
In South Korea, the news said that Son was being held in Liaoning, a province in the northeast. Since then, there has been no more information about his whereabouts.
Son had been with Suzhou Taishan in the Chinese Super League since 2021. He played in three of his country’s four World Cup games in Qatar in 2022.
“Now we only have one wish for Christmas,” Klinsmann told reporters when Germany got back to South Korea from beating China 3-0 in a World Cup qualifying match on Tuesday.
“That’s to get Son Jun-ho out of jail because they haven’t shown anything wrong with him up to now.”
“So we hope that the Chinese government will release him, hopefully before Christmas, to see his family,” said Klinsmann.
Son was detained in June, but Klinsmann still put him in his team for two games as a show of support.
At the time, the Korea Football Association told AFP that it had sent people to China to try to get Son released, but the player’s lawyer was “reluctant” to talk to them.