Unfortunately Taiwan and HK businesses don't give a damn about politics and are everywhere in China. In CSL, Xi'an was controlled by Yungtay Engineering until this year. Tianjin is sponsored by noodle maker master Kong.
I thought it was Celtic and Rangers that wanted to join the English Premier League, but it would've ment Rangers and Celtic starting from the Conference and having to work their way up to the Premiership...
i think is all about economic clout, but that probably takes a backseat to support/fan interest. i know for a fact that HK is a football market, which has never had a great domestic club. i do know that they have the econnomic power to field a(or several) competitive team, with maybe a few over-the-hill european or south american players, which there are lots of options, ican think of a few - Sheringham said he didnt wanna retire, guys like Dario Silva, Marcelo Salas...etc, they are possible signing for big clubs such as Dalian, Shandong, or Shenhua. But if there was a CSL team in HK or Taipei, the reasons for these foreign players to join wud be in CSL's favor. just look at the league my new hometown team is playing in now - MLS.
I think it all depends on how far back you look. IIRC, the HK league was the first to turn professional in Asia in the late 60s.
Sorry, you're wrong. HK league used to be the best league in Asia until about the early 80s. Teams like South China, Eastern, Happy Valley used to attract some very good foreign players. 3 players from the Dutch '74 World Cup team (including Arie Haan, the guy who scored a 40 yard strike in WC74) played in HK in the late 70s. George Best also played for 3 games as guest player in '82. Some of the HK clubs have longer history than some Euro clubs. HKFC for example was founded in 1886.
so Hong Kong clubs may have had a glorius couple of years in the 70s, around the same time China was beginning to be "modernized" (kaifang). We all know how much the level of the game in HK has deteriorated in the past decade or so. Meanwhile J-League, K-League and CSL has over taken HK as the best leagues in (east)Asia. Now its just a matter of time before some of those storied clubs like South China, can be rejuvenated, maybe with some help or corporate and foreign investment.
the level of football in HK is not that bad...in recent years they were able to beat malaysia and tie Uzbekistan. I'm wondering whether it's necessary for a HK club to integrate into CSL. HK has its own league and it's probably better to put more money and raise the level of soccer. Look at Singapore. it's a city state even smaller than HK and the league is flourishing.
North Korea bested Hong Kong 1-0 yesterday to qualify for the East Asian Championship 2008 finals to be held in Chongqing China. Also yesterday, Taiwan beat Macau 7-2 in the other qualifying game. Both teams will not go through. The finalists are China, South Korea, North Korea, and Japan.
yeah, that was sad. we only lost 1-0 thought. But argh, can't even make it to the EAst ASian Championship. Hope we can make it next time.
Taiwan will never make it in football unless they forget about basket ball...so many people play basket ball......... taiwanese will never make it in the NBA ..... need to give more moeny to players and have an actual stadium....
I think the original poster or the articles he mentioned was referring to Ng's early days. He was playing for some minor team in Guangdong for RMB 400 per month. He later moved to Nanjing, Shanghai, etc where he started to earn more money. As for Taiwan, it will not work, but not for political reasons. One of their best basketball team actually joined the CBA and became a doormat team in CBA(much better than the Shenzhen-based Hong Kong Dragons). The team basically returned to Taiwan.
soccer has always been popular in HK. The quality of the league dropped over the years because of the combination of satellite TV, small market, and lack of youth development.
Yeah, I think the local league quality has dropped, but soccer (ie EPL) has never dropped in popularity, just walk around the city on the weekend and see all the EPL jerseys, even some fairly unusual ones (Liverpool Cheyroo, a Blackburn Warnock, etc)...
Hong Kong football will take a long time to recover and become one of the strong leagues in Asia (not even sure this will happen). There's is just too much foreign leagues shown in Hong Kong.
Well, soccer is the number 1 sport in HK, that's for sure. The Barclays Asia Trophy in 2007 attracted full house attendances both days. Then of course you would expect that when Liverpool FC is in town with Gerrard and Torres. Recently, with Steven Lo pouring money into South China, there is some recovery. Last week when South China defeated Neftchi 1:0 in the AFC Cup, 20,000 attended the game, even though there was a lot of rain just before the game and live TV available. Steven Lo said this was the first time in 3 years he actually turned a profit in playing a game. He hopes South China can go all the way in the AFC Cup. Hong Kong also made it to the 2010 East Asian Football Championship finals in Japan, beating World Cup qualifier North Korea on goal difference. Steven Lo seems to be leading South China into playing in the CSL one day. I think he realizes that South China cannot survive by solely taking part in the HK league. (The HK league winners can't even take part in the lucrative Asian Champions League's qualifying play-offs...) He hopes South China can win the AFC Cup and take part in the ACL next year. (which I doubt will happen, because HK League is rated as very poor by AFC.) But I think other clubs like Kitchee might follow South China into CSL as well. I think Kitchee also do not see itself being able to survive in HK League without South China. Chinese govt will welcome HK teams in CSL. HK athletes already take part in the Chinese National Games. I think it will be good if CSL organize promotion/relegation play-offs for the Chinese League One winners and HK League winners to determine if HK teams like South China can play in it. As previously stated, I don't see HK losing its national team. First of all, if Canada, Wales, New Zealand...etc all have pro teams playing in someone else's league and they don't lose their national teams, then why should minnow HK loses its team? (New Zealand even took part in the FIFA Confederations Cup.) I think FIFA are wise enough to understand it is not a big issue.
As if anyone is unsure, this is what Sepp Blatter said about Wellington Phoenix playing in the A-League: "It is not the matter of the confederation, it is the matter of the FIFA Executive Committee... If Wellington will go on play on in Australian League, then as long as Australian league wants to have them and Wellington wants to stay (and) Both association in this case, New Zealand Soccer and Australian Football are happy with that then we will give them the blessing. The confederation can not interfere with that." So that means that if CFA and HKFA are okay, then neither AFC nor FIFA will do anything about South China playing in CSL. There is no way CFA will not be okay because Chinese govt is all about unity, similarly HKFA bows down to CFA.