The
Hong Kong national football team (), represents
Hong Kong in international
association football events such as the
FIFA World Cup,
AFC Asian Cup and
East Asian Football Championship. The team is supervised by the
Hong Kong Football Association.
The team had been representing Hong Kong in international football events before 1997 when Hong Kong was a
colony of the United Kingdom. It continues to represent Hong Kong even after Hong Kong was
handed over to the People's Republic of China by the United Kingdom and became a
special administrative region of the People's Republic of China in 1997. This team is a separate team from the
national team of the
People's Republic of China, as the
Basic Law and the principle of "
One country, two systems" allows Hong Kong to maintain its own representative teams in international sports competitions.
History
Hong Kong played its first international match after
World War II in 1949, against
South Korea. Its first victory came in 1953, a 4-0 win against
South Korea.
Hong Kong qualified for three of the first four editions of the
Asian Cup, including a third place finish in
1956 as hosts.
Hong Kong has never qualified for the
World Cup. However, its most celebrated victory happened during
1986 World Cup qualifying. On 19 May 1985, in Beijing, Hong Kong faced
China in the final match of the first qualifying round, where Hong Kong needed a win to advance while China needed only a draw. Hong Kong, led by coach
Kwok Ka Ming, produced a......
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