Hong Kong football boss Andersen to confirm decision to quit, expected to take club job in mainland China
- Jorn Andersen will appear at a press conference on Wednesday, although media will not be allowed to ask questions
- Football Association boss Erik Fok says his organisation will wait to reveal its next move
Jorn Andersen will officially quit his job as Hong Kong head coach on Wednesday.
Local officials, including Football Association of Hong Kong, China chairman Eric Fok Kai-shan, have stayed tight-lipped amid escalating speculation over the Norwegian’s future.
And players and back-room staff, meanwhile, said they remained in the dark over the situation.
But Andersen, who has refused to comment since the news first broke on Monday, is expected to make an announcement at a midday media briefing, where he will be accompanied by the association’s acting CEO Charles Cheung Yim-yau.
And the Post has been told the 61-year-old will confirm his resignation and then take a job with a club in mainland China. He is believed to have already cleared his belongings out of the association’s offices in Kowloon.
Hong Kong play Iran in a World Cup qualifier next Thursday, before completing their group campaign in Turkmenistan on June 11.
Andersen did not take a planned training session on Tuesday, leaving assistant Wolfgang Luisser to oversee practice, and Wednesday’s training has been cancelled.
He also stayed away from Tuesday night’s Hong Kong Top Footballer Awards, although Fok was at the Convention and Exhibition Centre ceremony.
“Everyone wants to know about the matter right now, and at the same time, HKFA is sorting this out,” Fok said. “The head coach will be the person to address this matter, so I will let him address it.”
Asked if the association had a succession plan, in the event of losing Andersen, Fok said he would “answer everything tomorrow”.
Fok refused to say whether he would attend the briefing with Andersen and Cheung, where journalists will not be allowed to ask questions.
Andersen, who was appointed in December 2021, had been in talks with the association over extending a contract that expires in June next year.
However, he has also been critical of local administrators and previously voiced his frustration over a number of staff being employed part-time.
The former North Korea coach is the second major figure inside one week to leave HKFA, which last week announced the resignation of CEO Joaquin Tam, although sources told the Post Tam was sacked.
With vacancies for their head coach and CEO positions, the organisation appears rudderless at a time when it should be capitalising on the Hong Kong team’s booming popularity. Andersen has created a significant bond between team and supporters, after transforming a passive, back-foot side into a courageous, aggressive unit.
He qualified Hong Kong for the Asian Cup finals, the team’s first major tournament since 1968, masterminded a New Year’s Day victory over China, and guided the city’s under-23s to the semi-finals of last year’s Asian Games.
Philip Chan Siu-kwan, an Andersen linchpin, who claimed the player of the season prize at last night’s awards ceremony, said he “had not heard anything officially”.
Chan, who also picked up the fans’ favourite prize and award for best Hong Kong player in the Premier League said he would be “sorry to see him [Andersen] go”.
“He is a very good man, he has been helping everybody, and created a lot of history,” he added. “I would like to see the best of him, if it’s not in Hong Kong. I hope he does well. It’s football, people come and go, we’re used to it.”
Other awards on Tuesday went to Tse Ka-wing for top goalkeeper after his performances at the Asian Games and Asian Cup, while Eastern boss Roberto Losada, meanwhile, won his second successive coach of the year prize.
Gifted Eastern duo of Jesse Yu Joy-yin and Timmy Ma Hei-wai won the young player honours.
