For the first time in nearly 30 years, Hong Kong defeated China in a basketball game on January 1.
Basically, the official outcome of the pre-Asian Cup warm-up was Hong Kong, China 2-1 China.
The name of Hong Kong’s group changed in 2023, which has fueled rumors that there is no longer a free, independent football field in the former British colony as Beijing takes control of the area.
“It is inevitable that at some stage in the future the Hong Kong Football Association [HKFA] will cease to exist as an independent member of Fifa,” Mark Sutcliffe, the HKFA chairman from 2012 to 2018, tells BBC Sports.
” It’s just a matter of time. “
Hong Kong ’s latest win over China is never their greatest.
That came in May 1985 when a 2-1 defeat in World Cup qualifying shocked 80,000 supporters at the Beijing Workers ‘ Stadium.
Even though many of us were not even born therefore, Kei Leung, a local fan, is aware of that.
” One of the best times in our story,” said the actress. “
In China, where the battle sparked a mob and the departure of the brain coach and the president of the Chinese Football Association, it is less well remembered.
Before that suit Hong Kong, next still a British settlement, sang God Save the Queen as their music.
That changed in 1997 when the UK handed over power to Beijing. As part of the deal, China promised to keep Hong Kong ’s relative freedoms and standing as a” Special Administrative Region” under the “one country, two systems” process for the next 50 times.
Football has evolved into a venue where Hong Kong’s liberal democratic past and the mainland’s autocratic practices clash.
As Beijing’s power tightened, Hong Kong ’s game became one of the several routes available to citizens to express their feelings.
” Football was a healthy choice for some,” says Leung. It is “more significant than other athletics.” “
Football’s necessity became visible after the 2014 Umbrella Movement. Following a number of pro-democracy protests in the financial center, the action was given the name after protesters used umbrellas to protect themselves from police pepper spray and tear gas.
Beijing’s decision to simply permit pre-approved individuals to participate in the 2017 vote to lead Hong Kong had led to the protests.
In 2015 Hong Kong hosted China in a tournament for the 2018 World Cup and some household fans booed their personal music, then shared with the criticism, called The March of the Individuals.
Some people held up signs that read” Hong Kong is hardly China.” Fifa fined the neighborhood organization.
Sutcliffe thought that not all of the people present were n’t sports enthusiasts.
” Certainly, international matches provided a platform for Hong Kong residents to voice their concerns,” says Sutcliffe.
The federal anthem’s shouting gave them a lot of attention. Numerous people attended games who, in ordinary circumstances, would never have attended a football game. “
Beijing has not yet contacted Sutcliffe with problems.
The Hong Kong SAR [Special Administrative Region ] Government pressed us to do anything possible to stop it, he claims.
” We ran promotion efforts. We increased the level of protection at matches, including banner searches and banner confiscation. We were unable to prevent it completely, and the result was that Fifa sent us fines many times. “
The government of Hong Kong also passed a law criminalizing disrespect to the song in 2020, which would have had a maximum three-year prison sentence.
Perhaps so, the national anthem was booed by some fans before kick-off against Myanmar in the first home game that was open to the public since the new law was passed in September 2022.
The 83 sports organizations in Hong Kong were given the instruction to put” China” to their names in three months to avoid losing money. About three-quarters of people had never done it before.
Before the term” China” was added to the lion peak, soccer fans flocked to the last batch of shirts with the original Hong Kong brand.
Sutcliffe struck the right balance between granting China’s calls and keeping a distinct identity and preserving range.
In the event that Fifa decided to remove the personal member position, he claims, it was kind of an informal rule to stay away from it.
There was no such thing as” sharing of solutions, information, or anything of that nature.”
We had a closer connection with Japan because they were much more generous and saw it as their responsibility to help promote sport in other Asian countries. “
The Chinese Super League ( CSL ) boom briefly threatened to realign those relationships.
At the start of 2010s Chinese top-flight leagues started spending large sums on world-famous people such as Nicolas Anelka, Didier Drogba, Hulk and Carlos Tevez, while coaches quite as Marcello Lippi, Luiz Felipe Scolari and Fabio Capello arrived.
Requirements increased as well as the frequency of the biggest Asian tendencies. Guangzhou Evergrande, only an hour’s high-speed train ride away from Hong Kong, became China ’s first Asian Champions League victors in 2013 and triumphed once in 2015.
In Hong Kong, the possibility of bringing a group to the CSL was raised in the hopes that it would raise requirements and profits.
In the end, the bubble failed. Economical problems in Chinese sports, exacerbated by the global epidemic, led to a number of leagues ceasing businesses.
However, the concept persists.
The current management of the HKFA, who did not respond to a request for an interview, also view China as an option.
” I do feel that is our path,” HKFA vice-president Eric Fok Kai-shan said in 2023. The China sector is being looked at by everyone. We want to make football as green as possible in terms of commercial value.
There are numerous instances of teams having bases it and playing in tournaments elsewhere, with Welsh venues Cardiff City, Swansea City, and Wrexham all a part of the English tower. “
Jorn Andersen, the head of the national team, has also embraced the idea of China’s top leagues competing against them.
Hong Kong qualified for the Asian Cup in January for the first time since 1968 under the Scandinavian, coming in last place among a group that included Palestine, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates. China did not do much better, placing third in their class and falling behind at the first hurdle without a purpose.
Long-suffering supporters of China were impressed by Hong Kong’s work.
” On social media, coast people praised Hong Kong ’s current success and even the lover participation in Qatar was admired,” said Tobias Zuser, an intellectual and co-editor of Game in Hong Kong: Culture, Identity and Policy.
Some even believe that Hong Kong could teach the China team. “
For the HKFA, the dilemma remains: if it is to remain a separate entity with a separate team, it will have to make itself useful to Beijing.
One thing about the Asian Football Confederation and Fifa is how it votes. However, its existence conflicts with China’s centralized system of government.
Nearly 40,000 people purchased tickets in February to watch Inter Miami take on a select Hong Kong League team. The crowd chanted for a refund after Inter Miami owner and one-time Chinese Super League ambassador David Beckham jeered a post-match speech when star draw Lionel Messi, who was nursing a hamstring strain, remained on the bench.
” Politically, the government in Beijing essentially sees Hong Kong as part of the mainland,” says Simon Chadwick, professor of sport and geopolitical economy at Skema Business School in France.
China will want to avoid losing face, as demonstrated by the recent Messi incident, and will undoubtedly take steps to reduce the frequency of these issues.
It would be wise to depoliticize football in Hong Kong and establish a set of values that are seen as pro-social and non-threatening in order for it to continue to exist.
” At best, football in Hong Kong can look forward to a future of neutrality. It could face extinction at the very least as it is absorbed into mainland structures and governance. “
Zuser does not think that any significant change is about to occur as a result of Hong Kong changing into Hong Kong, China.
The recent changes across other national sports associations are more of a symbolic streamlining, he says because Hong Kong has been a part of the Olympic Games since 1997 as Hong Kong, China.
It does n’t really alter how people feel about or support the teams. “
Sutcliffe, however, thinks the addition of a single word may be the writing on the wall.
” I was n’t at all surprised by the name change,” he says.
It proves what I said,” It only matters a matter of time. It’s part of the transition to assimilation. “
