Hong Kong footballer in UK BN(O) visa wrangle, ‘bowing down to reality’ as career stalls

Ellison Tsang Yi-hang said he had “bowed down to the reality” that his hugely promising career would be impeded by red tape for at least another 18 months.

Defender Tsang has been without a club since moving to England to study soon after playing every match of Hong Kong under-23s’ run to the semi-finals of the 2023 Asian Games.

Initial plans to join FC United of Manchester were scuppered when Tsang learned his British National (Overseas), or BN(O), visa would not clear him to play semi-professional football.

After delivering a pair of fine performances in this month’s Guangdong-Hong Kong Cup, the 21-year-old said there had been “no progress” in his efforts to sidestep the regulations, despite help from the Football Association of Hong Kong, China (HKFA).

This season, he has been playing for Konger FC, the Manchester-based team for Hong Kong immigrants, in the Lancashire and Cheshire Amateur Football League.

Tsang acknowledged that the prospect of returning to professional football in Hong Kong, where he played for Kitchee and HKU23, was “really attractive and tempting”.