Ethnic minority footballers see a straight line to goal at last
Language barrier to careers on the pitch finally lifted after 14 years of keeping locals who don't read Chinese from achieving their dreams
Three South Asian footballers who have represented Hong Kong internationally have been thwarted in their efforts to become coaches for five years because the local football association didn't hold exams in English.
But that barrier is about to be lifted as the Hong Kong Football Association (HKFA) plans to resume English tests - discontinued in 1998 - this year.
Pakistani Mohammad Wahid scored 27 goals in the Homeless World Cup in Brazil in 2010, and was approached by a scout from the youth team of Manchester United.
But he failed to make it to Old Trafford due to the difficulty of obtaining a British visa. He decided to nurture football talent in Hong Kong, but was deterred by the Chinese-only examinations.
"The HKFA saw itself as a big shot and racially discriminated against us," he said. "They have not given us any chance at all."
Wahid, 22, who once played for Southern District FC, then a division-three club, speaks fluent English and Cantonese, but cannot read or write Chinese.
