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AFC Asian Cup: Hong Kong will squander legacy without investment and culture change, goalkeeper Yapp says
- The lowly ranked Hong Kong team won admirers for their performances in Qatar but next face the challenge of how to build on it
- ‘If you want to change Hong Kong football, the culture has to change first,’ Yapp Hung-fai says
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Yapp Hung-fai fears the Hong Kong national team’s vibrant AFC Asian Cup performances in Qatar will leave no meaningful legacy, because “the sports industry is not important” in the city.
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The goalkeeper, who has 90 international caps, will celebrate his 10-year anniversary with Premier League club Eastern this summer, following a career spent entirely in the local league.
He was part of Hong Kong’s two stand-out tournament displays, the tight encounters – ultimately both lost – with 2019 semi-finalists United Arab Emirates and Iran.
Jorn Andersen’s side ran out of steam in the loss to Palestine on Tuesday that sealed their exit, in front of a throng of Hongkongers who stayed into the night to loudly hail their team. Yapp, however, reckoned only an extraordinary culture shift would prevent events of the past fortnight being recalled merely as a heady snapshot in time.
“There needs to be more investment in football,” Yapp said. “More money will help produce better players, but in Hong Kong, the sports industry is not important.
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