Liechtenstein to host Hong Kong in city’s first ever football match in Europe
- City’s representative team have not played outside Asia since 1992, and last hosted European opposition in 2006, when Croatia visited for a friendly
- Jorn Andersen’s team to meet European minnows to ‘learn about different playing styles’
Hong Kong will play a football international in Europe for the first time, after the city’s chiefs confirmed a friendly date with Liechtenstein on October 10.
The pioneering fixture at the 7,000-capacity Rheinpark Stadion was the idea of head coach Jorn Andersen, who said facing unfamiliar opposition would allow Hong Kong to “learn about different playing styles”.
Andersen said Hong Kong would return to Asia for their second friendly fixture in October’s Fifa window, which provides a final opportunity to prepare for the East Asian Football Federation Championship qualifiers in Taiwan two months later.
Hong Kong last met European opposition in June 2006, when Croatia won a friendly in the city 4-0. You need to go back another 14 years, to June 1992, for the last time Hong Kong played outside Asian Football Confederation territory: a 3-1 friendly loss in Canada.
At 202nd in the global Fifa rankings, Liechtenstein sit 43 positions beneath Hong Kong, in 157th.
