Hong Kong national football team
The
Hong Kong football team (
Chinese: 香港足球代表隊,
Pinyin: Xiānggǎng Zúqiú Dàibiǎoduì) represents the
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the
People's Republic of China in international
football (soccer) events such as the
World Cup,
Asian Cup and
East Asian Cup under the team name "
Hong Kong, China" (simply
Hong Kong before 1997) . The team is supervised by the
Hong Kong Football Association Ltd.
The team had been representing Hong Kong in international football events before
1997 when Hong Kong was a
colony of the
United Kingdom. It continues to represent Hong Kong even after Hong Kong was
handed over to the People's Republic of China by the United Kingdom and became a
special administrative region of the People's Republic of China in 1997. This team is a separate team from the
national team of the People's Republic of China, as the
Basic Law and the principle of "
One Country, Two Systems" allows Hong Kong to maintain its own representative teams in international sports competitions.
Hong Kong played its first ever international match in
1949, against
South Korea. Its first victory came in
1953, a 4-0 win against South Korea.
Hong Kong qualified for three of the first four editions of the
Asian Cup, including a third place finish in
1956 as hosts.
Hong Kong has never qualified for the
World Cup. However, its most celebrated victory happened during
1986 World Cup qualifying. On
May 19 1985, in
Beijing, Hong Kong faced
China in the final match of the first qualifying round, where the team needed a win to advance (while China needed only a draw). Hong Kong produced a 2-1 upset win, with goals from Kuo Kam-Fai (顧錦輝) and Cheung Chi-Tak (張志德), thereby winning the group and advancing to the knockout stage, where it subsequently lost to
Japan.
On
February 9 2005, to celebrate the 90th anniversary of both the
Hong Kong Football Association and the
Brazilian Football Confederation, Hong Kong hosted
2002 World Cup champions
Brazil in a friendly match. Brazil easily won 7-1.
Hong Kong plays its home matches at the
Hong Kong Stadium, where they are also hosting an annual international tournament known as the
Carlsberg Cup as part of the festivities to usher in the Chinese New Year.
Hong Kong also used the
Siu Sai Wan Sports Ground in
Chai Wan for its World Cup qualifier against China on 31st March 2004, when the Hong Kong Stadium was unavailable due to the
Hong Kong Sevens (Rugby).
*
1930 to
1970 -
Did not enter*
1974 to
2006 -
Did not qualify*
1956 - Third place
*
1960 -
Did not qualify*
1964 - Fourth place
*
1968 - Fifth place
*
1972 to
2004 -
Did not qualify*
2003 - Fourth place
*
2005 -
Did not qualifyHome*
March 2 2003 - Hong Kong 11 - 0
GuamNeutral*
March 7 2005 - Hong Kong 15 - 0 Guam (in
Republic of China (Taiwan))
*
August 4 1975 - Hong Kong 9 - 1
Bangladesh (in
Malaysia)
Away*
April 15 1960 -
Philippines 0 - 7 Hong Kong
Home*
February 9 2005 - Hong Kong 1 - 7
BrazilNeutral*
November 30 1998 -
Oman 6 - 0 Hong Kong (in
Thailand)
Away*
August 1 1980 -
China, PR 7 - 0 Hong Kong
*
November 17 2004 -
China, PR 7 - 0 Hong Kong
*
Akandu Lawrence*
Au Wai Lun*
Cheung Sai Ho*
Fan Chun Yip*
Ng Wai Chiu*
Kok Ka Ming*
Team news on the HKFA website
*
RSSSF Archive*
Hong Kong Football - (English version)
*
Results and list of matches
