Hongkongers moving to UK on BN(O) visa hit back of net, as city’s ex-pro footballers form club and enter Manchester league
- Team featuring four former Hong Kong internationals play first match in Manchester Saturday Morning Football League
- Konger FC look to ‘provide more playing opportunities for young Hong Kong players’ and ‘pass baton from generation to generation’
The curtain has been raised on the new Hong Kong Premier League season, but on the other side of the world, a team featuring its former stars and ex-internationals are testing their mettle in the UK.
The aptly named Konger FC were recently accepted into the Manchester Saturday Morning Football League, a Football Association-sanctioned competition, and are playing in the Championship, its top tier.
Even if it is more or less an amateur league, there was plenty of anticipation this weekend as they prepared to get their season under way by facing Manchester Medics First at Parrs Wood High School.
The team thanked fans for showing support on their social media channels, saying they would try their best and most of all be “humble people”.
“We can now play under the FA, although we are in the lowest level of competition,” a post read. “As a newly set up team, we hope to settle in the league before providing more playing opportunities for young Hong Kong players.
“We never consider ourselves some awesome people. We just want to be humble and take up Hongkongers’ Lion Rock spirit. Once we have started, we want to pass the baton to people from generation after generation.”
Hong Kong Football Association president Pui Kwan-kay said he was pleased to see former Hong Kong footballers get playing opportunities in the UK.
“If these ex-players can continue to enjoy football in the UK, I wish them good luck and hope they treasure the opportunity,” Pui said.
Heading the list of footballers who have moved to the UK is full back Cheung Kin-fung, 39, who played for domestic heavyweights Kitchee and South China during his heyday. After retirement, he became the coach of the Hong Kong under-23 national team before leaving the city late last year.
Cheung was in charge of the infamous youth squad that reportedly vandalised hotel rooms while drunk during the AFC U23 Championship qualifiers in Japan in 2021.
The Hong Kong Football Association later fined 10 players and banned them all from international duty after receiving a complaint from the Japan Football Association.
Another notable player for Konger is Li Hang-wui, who only quit Tai Po as their head coach at the end of last season in May.
Also a defender during his playing days, Li, now 38, was captain of the national youth squad that took part in Hong Kong’s failed bid to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
After retirement, he went into management and became the assistant to head coach Lee Chi-kin when Tai Po lifted the championship in 2019.
He followed Lee to join Eastern for the following two seasons before moving to Lee Man and rejoined Tai Po as their head coach in 2022.
Former Hong Kong goalkeeper Tse Tak-him, who was still with Southern last season before ending his career in May and moving to the UK, will also play for Konger.
So will Chan Siu-yuen, a member of the Hong Kong team that clinched the gold medal at the 2009 East Asian Games in Hong Kong.
