Hong Kong FA technical director Morling outlines vision, 2034 Fifa World Cup qualification remains target
- John Morling coached Manchester City star Jack Grealish in Ireland’s youth teams, oversaw progress of multiple players into Brighton first-team
- Englishman has sprawling remit with Hong Kong FA, targeting development programme that delivers ‘conveyor belt of players every year’
John Morling began coaching to “fill the days” when he was a schoolboy apprentice at English club Norwich City, and far away from his East London family home.
Today, as the newly installed technical director of the Football Association of Hong Kong, China [HKFA], he barely has a minute to spare.
An extensive to-do list includes helping Hong Kong become a force in Asian football, while the association’s ambition of qualifying for the 2034 Fifa World Cup, outlined in their Vision 2025 plan four years ago, remains live.
“If we get there, only time will tell, but we have to be much closer than we are now,” Morling told the Post.
In line with that goal, the 50-year-old said the growth of a coordinated player development programme over the next five years would result in “a conveyor belt of players, year after year.”.
The academy manager of Brighton & Hove Albion for the decade up to 2022, the Englishman emerged from an exhaustive recruitment process as the individual charged with overseeing all of Hong Kong’s men’s and women’s international teams, barring the men’s senior team, as well as grass-roots football, futsal, women’s football, and coach education in the city.
