Hong Kong football’s latest star Nicholas Benavides out to ‘overcome anything’ for success
The left-sided player with a South American background came off the bench for his Hong Kong debut in this week’s 3-0 victory over Cambodia
Hong Kong’s newest international footballer, Nicholas Benavides, pledged to “overcome anything I have to deal with” to forge a successful career, five months after his future in the sport became shrouded in uncertainty.
When Benavides came off the bench in Hong Kong’s 3-0 victory over Cambodia on Tuesday, it represented the fulfilment of a dream he had harboured since being a mascot for a representative team game against Paraguay in 2010.
Tai Po player Benavides, who can operate anywhere down the left, was born in the city but has Chilean and Bolivian heritage through his parents. Last year, he surrendered his dual citizenship of those South American countries to acquire a Hong Kong passport, with a view to becoming a local player in the domestic Premier League and, ultimately, earning international honours.
However, the 22-year-old’s best-laid plans threatened to go awry when his club, Sham Shui Po, opted to self-relegate at the end of last season.
“I was thinking, ‘what am I going to do, where am I going to go?’” Benavides said.
“In football, anything can happen at any time, but when your team goes, there is no way for you to play on the [Premier League] platform. It is very hard [to earn a contract], because we now have only nine teams in the league, where there were 11 last season. Hopefully, in the next few years, those numbers can increase again.
