Crisis in Hong Kong football: switching off the lights in clubs’ financial black hole
- Burning cash and sharing pitches with the public, city’s teams are ill-equipped to play in mainland China and resistant to forcing change
Hong Kong’s leading football clubs are built on fragile foundations. Nominally professional, their facilities, the numbers who watch them and at times the standard of play have as much in common with amateur sport.
The local Premier League has shrunk to nine teams, who also play in the FA Cup, the Senior Shield and the Sapling Cup. Plenty of silverware is on offer, but precious little revenue.
For love, not money
Asked why he continues to put more than HK$20 million (US$2.56 million) of his own money into Kitchee every year, the club’s owner, Ken Ng Kin, said: “It’s not for fame or fortune.”
Which is probably a good thing, given Kitchee averaged home crowds of 1,147 last season, almost double the league average of 576.
What can club owners expect in return for their investments? A warm glow, perhaps, if one of their own is selected for Hong Kong, or their team claim a trophy. In terms of profit, not much.
Hong Kong football is haemorrhaging money, for imperceptible gain. One perennial frustration of Jorn Andersen, the recently departed representative team boss, was the poor conditioning of his players when they reported for duty. That was secondary only to the Norwegian’s exasperation with the Premier League’s pedestrian football.
