Hong Kong football’s surprise packages Kowloon City offer path for future stars
New boys’ head coach Chan Ming-kong relishing underdog status, targets an overseas post – having never played abroad in his playing days
The head coach of Kowloon City, Chan Ming-kong, has said the flourishing Premier League new boys want to provide a platform for emerging local players to launch successful club and international careers.
After being widely expected to struggle in their debut top-flight campaign, Kowloon have established themselves as the best of the rest, outside the four big guns vying for the title. They recently stunned Kitchee 3-2 – after trailing 2-0 – and have drawn with Eastern, as well as twice beating league mainstays Southern.
Chan, 39, who had a 17-year playing career in Hong Kong, was appointed to his first managerial position last summer.
“We are underdogs, so I can try new things and have a brave style,” Chan said. “People thought we would be no good, which was a nice situation for the players and coaches, because we could surprise everyone. When people talk me down, it gives me motivation.”
Kowloon’s 20-year-old former Kitchee defender Anson Yim Kai-cheuk and midfielder Ho Lung-ho, 21, who joined after HKU23 were disbanded, were both in Hong Kong’s squad for January’s Guangdong-Hong Kong Cup. Ho is among the preliminary party for this month’s Fifa window.
“It’s our job to get players into the Hong Kong team, and it has to be their ultimate goal,” Chan said. “We want our foreign players to get recognition, too. If any player does well, they’ll have the chance to go to another level.