Hong Kong national football team

The Hong Kong national football team (Chinese: 香港足球代表隊; Cantonese Yale: Hēunggóng jūkkàuh doihbíu deuih; recognised as Hong Kong, China by FIFA) represents Hong Kong in international football and is controlled by the Football Association of Hong Kong, China, the governing body for football in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong hosted the first AFC Asian Cup in 1956 and won third place, also reaching the semifinals in 1964. Hong Kong did not qualify for another AFC tournament until 2023. They had never qualified for the FIFA World Cup but have qualified for the EAFF E-1 Football Championship five times, in 2003, 2010, 2019, 2022 and 2025.

Before Hong Kong became a member of FIFA in 1954, Hong Kong began playing in the Hong Kong–Macau Interport tournament in 1937,^[4] which was one of the oldest competitions co-held by Hong Kong as well as continuously played.

There were other interport tournaments in the past, such as the Shanghai-Hong Kong Interport which was first held in 1908.^[5]

At that time the team was composed of ethnic Chinese as well as western expatriates, as in the 1935 and 1937 edition of Shanghai-Hong Kong Interport.^[6][7] There was another Interport tournament against Saigon.^[8]

The aforementioned Macau, Shanghai and Saigon were not a member of FIFA nor a sovereign nation at that time, with Hong Kong and Macau only having joined FIFA in 1954 and 1978 respectively.

The China national team that participated in 1936 and 1948 Summer Olympics, were mainly composed of ethnic Chinese players from Hong Kong, most famously Lee Wai Tong.^[9][10]

After WWII, a number of Shanghai-based players began representing Hong Kong, such as Chang King Hai and Hsu King Shing. Hong Kong played its first international match after World War II on 20 April 1947, against South Vietnam.^[2] Its first victory came in 1953, a 4–0 win against South Korea.^[2]

The Hong Kong FA became a member of FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation in 1954. Since then Hong Kong played their first FIFA-recognised international match against other countries.

The HKFA also sent a scratch team for 1957 Merdeka Tournament, which was composed of players from Eastern due to their proximity, plus few players from other clubs.

The club was having a pre-season tour in South Asia, thus the HKFA invited the club to represent Hong Kong. However, some of the players were in fact ineligible to play for Hong Kong, as they were ROC (Taiwan) international players.^[11][12]

Hong Kong qualified for three of the first four editions of the Asian Cup, including a third-place finish in the 1956 edition as host. At that time, most Hong Kong players represented Republic of China; they finished third in the Asian Cup in the 1960 edition, leaving more inferior players to the proper Hong Kong team.^[13]

The 1998 World Cup Asian qualifiers was considered one of Hong Kong's darkest moments as it was hit by a match-fixing scandal that involved former Sing Tao striker Chan Tsz-Kong who was found guilty and jailed for a year after he bribed players to throw and lose a match against Thailand. Others who were involved include goalkeeper Kevin Lok Kar-Win, defenders Chan Chi-Keung and Lau Chi Yuen and striker Wai Kwan-Lung.^[14]

In 2015, a short football fever appeared during the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification matches in Hong Kong under the guidance of Kim Pan Gon, as Hong Kong had been drawn into the same group with their fierce rival, China.

Due to the tensions built up from the Hong Kong–Mainland China conflict, many local citizens became interested in this year's campaign; all four home matches were recorded as a sellout.

Hong Kong ended the campaign with 4 victories against Bhutan and Maldives, 2 scoreless draws against China, and 2 losses against Qatar.

In late 2018, after the sudden departure of Kim Pan-gon, English coach Gary White was hired as the new head coach in which under his guidance, he helped Hong Kong secure qualification for their third appearance at the EAFF E-1 Football Championship finals after a narrow win against Chiense Taipei, a draw against North Korea and a heavy win against Mongolia. Shortly afterwards, White departed from the role.

In April 2019, Hong Kong appointed Finnish coachMixu Paatelainen as the new head coach of the national football team in time for the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers and the 2019 EAFF E-1 Football Championship tournament. His first game in charge ended in a disappointing and surprising loss at home during friendly international against Chiense Taipei. ^[15]

After a run of poor performances throughout the World Cup qualifiers and the 2019 EAFF E-1 Football Championship, Mixu Paatelainen's contract was not renewed.

On 13 December 2021, Norwegian coach Jørn Andersen who formerly guided North Korea was named as the new head coach succeeding Mixu Paatelainen in preparation for the third round of qualification of the 2023 AFC Asian Cup.^[16]

He guided Hong Kong to qualify for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup by beating Afghanistan 2–1 and Cambodia 3–0, reaching the final tournament after a 55-year absence.^[17]

On 15 January 2024, Hong Kong then kicked off their 2023 Asian Cup campaign against UAE in which they lost 3–1 in the opening match where Chan Siu Kwan scored the 1,000th goal in the AFC Asian Cup history.^[18] They eventually finished the campaign at the bottom of their group after losses against Iran (0–1) and Palestine (0–3).

On 29 May 2024, Jørn Andersen announced his resignation as head coach of the Hong Kong national team after over 2 years in charge.^[19]

On 28 August 2024, English manager Ashley Westwood was appointed as the new head coach of the Hong Kong national football team, succeeding Jørn Andersen.^[20] In September 2024, Hong Kong travelled to Fiji and played two friendly matches against Oceania countries, Solomon Islands and Fiji.

In October 2024, the team also travelled to Europe for the first time where they played against Liechtenstein.

On 8 December 2024, Yapp Hung Fai became the first-ever Hong Kong player to reach 100 international caps against Mongolia during the 2025 EAFF E-1 Football Championship Preliminary Round.

On 10 June 2025, Hong Kong played their 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualification home game against India at the Kai Tak Stadium, which resulted in a 1–0 win for the hosts in the stadium's maiden official football match.^[21] All tickets were sold out and a new attendance record was set for a Hong Kong football match with 42,570 spectators.^[22][23]

The national team's home kit is typically a red shirt, red shorts, and red or white socks, while the away kit features white shirts, white shorts, and red or white socks.

The crest of the Hong Kong national football team features a Chinese dragon. This logo has consistently been used as the team's emblem.

The HKFA emblem was not used on jerseys until 31 May 2011, HKFA debuted current emblem for the national team.

The team's primary stadium is Hong Kong Stadium.

For selected friendly matches^[26] and minor qualification matches, the Hong Kong team plays most often at the Mong Kok Stadium in Kowloon, which was reconstructed in 2011.

The Jockey Club HKFA Football Training Centre is currently the main training ground for the Hong Kong national and youth teams.

Hong Kong maintains a specific rivalry with China. The rivalry began in 1978 and on 19 May 1985, Hong Kong produced a shock 2–1 upset in Beijing in the 1986 World Cup qualifying game, leading to unrest by Chinese supporters.^[27]

Since then, China was unbeaten against to Hong Kong but the rivalry continues and even got heaten up since the conflict between Hong Kong and China in the 2010s.^[28][29][30]

On 1 January 2024, Hong Kong defeated China 2–1 in a closed door FIFA international friendly, marking their first victory in 29 years.^[31][32]

The Hong Kong–Macau rivalry has been contested by Hong Kong Football Association and Macau Football Association since 1937.

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

  Win   Draw   Loss

Last updated: Hong Kong 1–6 Japan, 8 July 2025. Statistics include international "A" matches only.

The following 26 players have been named in the squad for the 2025 EAFF E-1 Football Championship.^[34]

Caps and goals as of 8 July 2025 after the match against Japan.

The following players have been called up for the team within the previous 12 months.

During the 1950s, Arthur Santos who is of British-Portuguese nationality (whose son Leslie was a former Hong Kong international footballer) became the first naturalised player to represent the Hong Kong national football team who was then followed by another fellow Portuguese-born player named JH Toleido.^[35]

In the 1960s, there were a couple more foreign players who had represented the Hong Kong national football team whilst some were working within the national service at the time. These include British players from T. Watson, Evans, Ken Wallis who went on to represent Hong Kong during the lawn bowls event during the 1990 and 1994 Commonwealth Games as well as Australian-born Pete McClaren and Scottish-born Charlie Wright.^[35]

In the late 1970s, Scottish-born players Derek Currie, Dave Anderson and Hugh McCrory all became eligible to represent the Hong Kong national football team in which Currie and Anderson took part during the 1979 Asian Cup qualifiers whilst McCrory took part during the 1982 World Cup qualifiers.

There were at least a couple more naturalised players who went on to represent Hong Kong throughout the 90's which include Bosnian-born Anto Grabo along with fellow English-born players Mark Grainger, John Moore and most notably Dale Tempest. Sung Lin Yung became the first mainland born player to represent Hong Kong during the 1998 World Cup Asian qualifiers having resided for more than two years under FIFA eligibility rules unlike foreign born players that would usually require at least seven years.

In the 2000s, a couple of African and Brazilian-born players were introduced went through the naturalisation process having met the residential criteria. Nigerian-born Lawrence Akandu obtained his Hong Kong citizenship in which he played for the national team during the 2003 East Asia Cup finals where he scored a goal in a loss against South Korea. He was soon followed by Cameroon-born Guy Gerard Ambassa who obtained his permanent residential status in 2005 along with another fellow Nigerian-born player named Colly Ezeh and Brazilian-born Cristiano Cordeiro in which both of whom earned international caps during the 2007 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers. Cordeiro was also the first non-Chinese captain in the history of the Hong Kong team during the 2008 East Asia Cup preliminary stages. Despite having played for the national team during the 2009 edition of the Guangdong-Hong Kong Cup, Cameroonian-born Julius Akosah attempted to apply for a HKSAR passport, however his application was unsuccessful.

During the mid 2010s, there had been an increase of naturalised players being used to represent the national team in which former head coach Kim Pan-gon stated that he needed to pick his best players regardless of their origin in preparation during the 2018 World Cup qualifiers.^[36]

These include the likes of European-born players Manuel Bleda, Dani Cancela, Jaimes McKee, Raphael Merkies, Fernando Recio, Andy Russell, Jack Sealy, Jordi Tarrés and Sean Tse, Brazilian-born players Everton Camargo, Paulo César, Clayton, Dudu, Diego Eli, Fernando, Giovane, Helio, Itaparica, Juninho, Roberto Júnior, Tomas Maronesi, Paulinho, Stefan Pereira, and Sandro, Asian-born players Jahangir Khan and Yuto Nakamura, and African-born players from Wisdom Fofo Agbo, Alex Akande, Christian Annan, Mahama Awal, Festus Baise, Godfred Karikari, Jean-Jacques Kilama, and Paul Ngue.

In addition to Sung Lin Yung, several other mainland born players went on to represent Hong Kong from past to present which include Bai He, Chao Pengfei, Deng Jinghuang, Feng Jizhi, Gao Wen, Li Haiqiang, Liu Quankun, Huang Yang, Ju Yingzhi, Wang Zhenpeng, Wei Zhao, Xiao Guoji, Xu Deshuai, Ye Jia, and Zhang Chunhui.^[37]

As of 8 July 2025^[38]

Players in bold are still active with Hong Kong.

This list only records the players who were named as Hong Kong captain in official international competitions. First-choice captains always go first.

See comprehensive article: Hong Kong national football team all-time record

Denotes draws includes knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.