Hong Kong national football team

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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