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Camargo set to revive international career as Ashley Westwood picks first Hong Kong squad

AFC Champions League 2: Eastern ‘cannot compare’ with Japanese opponents, says Losada

Hong Kong football team’s beach bar night out was a ‘bonding experience’, coach says

Kitchee defender Jay Haddow considering Hong Kong passport, flourishing after summer move

The Football Association of Hong Kong, China

Hong Kong football in crisis

Hong Kong football. Photo: SCMP

Sport

Football

Hong Kong

Crisis in Hong Kong football: the family behind city’s multimillion-dollar money pit

Illustration: Victor Sanjinez Garcia

HKFA chairman Eric Fok photographed at his office in Hong Kong. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

A league match between Tai Po (green) and Kitchee this season draws a sparse crowd. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Sepp Blatter (centre), then Fifa secretary general, meets FA president Timothy Fok (right) in 1998. Photo: Garrige Ho

Lee Man players circle club president Norman Lee after clinching the Premier League title in May. Photo: Elson Li

The idea of a Hong Kong presence in mainland China’s Super League has been floated previously. Photo: Xinhua

Jorn Andersen (left) confirms his resignation as coach, as acting FA CEO Charles Cheung looks on. Photo: May Tse

Hong Kong midfielder Philip Chan (far left) has joined the criticism of his city’s FA. Photo: Elson Li

Hong Kong football has received hundreds of millions of dollars from the taxpayer over the past decade, despite being on a steady decline. The Fok family have been there every step of the way.


Crisis in Hong Kong football: switching off the lights in clubs’ financial black hole

SCMP Graphics

Few are present at Aberdeen Sports Ground to see Mahama Awal’s acrobatics for Southern. Photo: Yik Yeung-man

Kitchee players celebrate winning the Senior Shield at Mong Kok Stadium in February. Photo: Dickson Lee

The Football Training Centre in Tseung Kwan O is used by the public as well as by professionals. Photo: Roy Issa

A man jogs at Hammer Hill Road Sports Ground, where top-flight clubs also play. Photo: Elson Li

Joining the Chinese Super League would be too big a jump for most Hong Kong clubs. Photo: Xinhua

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 football in crisis: can Jorn Andersen’s successor turn more water into wine?

Philip Chan Siu-kwan (centre) provided a high point of Hong Kong’s year when he scored at the Asian Cup, but the odds were stacked against his team. Photo: Xinhua

Hong Kong players celebrate beating Iran to reach the Asian Games semi-finals. Photo: Dickson Lee

Fans pack Mong Kok Stadium for Hong Kong’s clash with Uzbekistan, but that is a rare sight. Photo: Reuters

Jorn Andersen had his share of frustrations while he was Hong Kong head coach. Photo: Xinhua

Hong Kong players salute their travelling fans after exiting the Asian Cup in Qatar in January. Photo: AFP

New coach one of many choices to get right if Hong Kong representative team are to show upward growth, not wither on the vine.


Football in Hong Kong is at a crossroads. The game domestically is in decline and the city has continued to slip down the Fifa rankings. In this series, the Post looks at some of the root causes and what might be done to turn things around.
 


Series

Hong Kong football in crisis

Football in Hong Kong is at a crossroads. The game domestically is in decline and the city has continued to slip down the Fifa rankings. In this series, the Post looks at some of the root causes and what might be done to turn things around.

The Hong Kong family behind city’s multimillion-dollar football money pit

Hong Kong football has received hundreds of millions of dollars from the taxpayer over the past decade, despite being on a steady decline. The Fok family have been there every step of the way.

Who keeps the floodlights on in Hong Kong football’s 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.

Can Hong Kong’s next football head coach work miracles as local game stagnates?

New coach one of many choices to get right if Hong Kong representative team are to show upward growth, not wither on the vine.