Hong Kong national football team
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The Hong Kong football team (Chinese: 香港足球代表隊, Pinyin: Xiānggǎng Zúqiú Dàibiǎoduì) represents the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China in international football (soccer) events such as the World Cup, Asian Cup and East Asian Cup under the team name "Hong Kong, China" (simply Hong Kong before 1997) . The team is supervised by the Hong Kong Football Association Ltd.
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 ever international match 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 has never qualified for the World Cup. However, its most celebrated victory happened during 1986 World Cup qualifying. On May 19 1985, in Beijing, Hong Kong faced China in the final match of the first qualifying round, where the team needed a win to advance (while China needed only a draw). Hong Kong produced a 2-1 upset win, with goals from Kuo Kam-Fai (顧錦輝) and Cheung Chi-Tak (張志德), thereby winning the group and advancing to the knockout stage, where it subsequently lost to Japan.
On February 9 2005, to celebrate the 90th anniversary of both the Hong Kong Football Association and the Brazilian Football Confederation, Hong Kong hosted 2002 World Cup champions Brazil in a friendly match. Brazil easily won 7-1.
Stadium
Hong Kong plays its home matches at the Hong Kong 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.Hong Kong also used the Siu Sai Wan Sports Ground in Chai Wan for its World Cup qualifier against China on 31st March 2004, when the Hong Kong Stadium was unavailable due to the Hong Kong Sevens (Rugby).
World Cup record
Asian Cup record
- 1956 - Third place
- 1960 - Did not qualify
- 1964 - Fourth place
- 1968 - Fifth place
- 1972 to 2004 - Did not qualify
East Asian Championship record
Best wins
Home Neutral- March 7 2005 - Hong Kong 15 - 0 Guam (in Republic of China (Taiwan))
- August 4 1975 - Hong Kong 9 - 1 Bangladesh (in Malaysia)
- April 15 1960 - Philippines 0 - 7 Hong Kong
Worst defeats
Home- February 9 2005 - Hong Kong 1 - 7 Brazil
- November 30 1998 - Oman 6 - 0 Hong Kong (in Thailand)
Famous players
External links
- [Team news] on the HKFA website
- [RSSSF Archive]
- [Hong Kong Football] - (English version)
- [Results and list of matches]
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