The Hong Kong football team, represents Hong Kong in international association
football competitions such as the FIFA World Cup, AFC Asian Cup and East Asian
Football Championship. The team is represented by the Hong Kong Football
Association, the governing body for football in Hong Kong.
The team had been representing Hong Kong in international football events before
1997 when Hong Kong was a colony of the United Kingdom. It continues to
represent Hong Kong even after Hong Kong was handed over to the People's Republic
of China by the United Kingdom and became a special administrative region
of the People's Republic of China in 1997. This team is a separate team from
the national team of the People's Republic of China, as the Basic Law and
the principle of "One country, two systems" allows Hong Kong to maintain
its own representative teams in international sports competitions.
History Hong Kong played its first international
match after World War II in 1949, against South Korea. Its first victory
came in 1953, a 4–0 win against South Korea.
Hong Kong qualified for three of the first four editions of the Asian Cup,
including a third-place finish in 1956 as hosts.
Hong Kong players represented Republic of China, they finished third in the
Asian Cup in 1960. However, the players in the team originally came from Hong
Kong since the reputation of the Hong Kong national football team was not as
good as the Republic of China. Also winning the Football at the 1954 Asian
Games and Football at the 1958 Asian Games.
Hong Kong has never qualified for the World Cup. However, its most celebrated
victory happened during 1986 World Cup qualifying. On 19 May 1985, in Beijing,
Hong Kong faced China in the final match of the first qualifying round, where
Hong Kong needed a win to advance while China needed only a draw. Hong Kong, led
by coach Kwok Ka Ming, produced a 2–1 upset win, with goals from Cheung Chi
Tak and Ku Kam Fai, thereby winning the group and advancing to the knockout
stage, where it subsequently lost to Japan.
On 9 February 2005, to celebrate the 90th anniversary of both the Association
and the Brazilian Football Confederation, Hong Kong hosted 2002
World Cup champions Brazil in a friendly match, with Lee Sze Ming scoring the
only goal for Hong Kong, although Brazil won 7–1.
The year 2009 could be a turning point in the diminishing football standards of
Hong Kong. On 12 December, Hong Kong defeated Japan and took their first East
Asian Games football gold medal in the first major competition Hong Kong
football team have won. This unexpected and surprising result, raised the belief
that the Hong Kong football team could perform for football lovers in Hong
Kong. The Hong Kong football team also won the 2010 Long Teng Cup and 2011 Long
Teng Cup Stadium
For a long time, Hong Kong played their home major matches at the Hong Kong
Stadium, as well as its predecessor Government Stadium, where they are also
hosting an annual international tournament known as the Carlsberg Cup as
part of the festivities to usher in the Chinese New Year.
For some of the friendly matches and the minor qualification matches, the Hong
Kong team most often play at Mong Kok Stadium in Mong Kok and occasionally
play at Siu Sai Wan Sports Ground in Siu Sai Wan.
In recent years, Hong Kong plays most of home matches at Mong Kok Stadium,
including FIFA World Cup and AFC Asian Cup qualification matches.
Competition history See comprehensive article: Hong Kong
national football team - record in qualifying and major tournaments
Denotes draws includes knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.
= All time results= = FIFA World Cup record=
= FIFA Confederations Cup record= = AFC Asian Cup record=
= Asian Games record= = East Asian Football Championship
record= = Minor tournaments=