Given how Kitchee was thrashed by Lee Man (0-4), I doubt Helio will get to stay with Kitchee. The Kitchee defense was all over the place.
After losing out to Lee Man in the Sapling Cup semi finals last week, they also lost out to Eastern during today's FA Cup semi-finals, the club does have several players who had sustained injuries in which the question is whether the club can get the results during the final four games to win the 2024/25 HKPL title.
Well Kim Shin Wook finally made his return for Kitchee's U22 squad in which he played during the second half. Can't say much about his future with the club considering that he hasn't made much of an impact during the past couple of years.
Fynn Talley is currently awaiting to see whether he will be offered a contract extension with Kitchee. Surely Talley must had done enough and proven himself to be awarded a contract extension considering that he had already kept five clean sheets this season for Kitchee and I'd be really surprised if he hasn't been offered a new contract (although I do not want the club to make the same mistake they did last season with not offering Charlie Scott a new contract.) Also in the same article, it has been reported that Jay Haddow has signed a two year contract extension with Kitchee. Plus it seems that he will be on course to acquire his HKSAR passport before the next season which will not only qualify him as a local player, but also eligible for the national team. Speaking of transfers: According to joga.bonito7, it seems that it is speculated that North District's Brazilian captain Kendy has signed a pre-contract agreement to join Kitchee. Like what I stated about Beattie, Kendy is one of the North District players that stood out for the past two seasons and I think this could be a good signing for the club considering that I do think Kitchee needs to bolster their midfield choices (along with their defensive and striking choices as well.)
Just saw that Bangladesh is going to be a harder opponent that many realize! Hamza Choudhury (played with Leicester City from 2015-2024, current EFL Championship player) made his debut for Bangladesh in March 2025. Cuba Mitchell, a rising star with EFL Championship Sunderland senior squad, has also pledged to represent Bangladesh. This means that the HK midfield will have to go up against a Championship-level midfield in Bangladesh...
The Sapling Cup final took place today and KC Southern stunned Lee Man by thrashing them with four goals. Sohgo Ichikawa who was awarded the Sapling Cup Young MVP confirmed that he will stay with Southern having spent the entire season on loan from Kitchee.
Well it seems Southern captain Shu Sasaki who has met the seven year residency is currently torn on whether he wants to switch nationalities in order to represent Hong Kong from an article from the South China Morning Post: “I was born in Japan and grew up there, but Hong Kong is my second home,” Sasaki said. “I would love to play for Hong Kong but it’s not an easy decision, I’m thinking about it.” "Sasaki, who acknowledged that his age determined he could not deliberate too long, added: “If I change, it’ll be a new journey for me. I have spoken with my family, and they will respect my decision. It’s up to me, but I don’t know what I’ll do.” I wonder has he had any conversations with Ashley Westwood in regards to his situation?
Shu Sasaki would be a huge boon to the attack of the HK team. His services are sorely needed, I hope he does consider it. But football aside, it is a huge commitment to give up a Japanese passport, especially with the current geopolitical developments. I am not sure if he wants to retire here or in Japan, that could affect his thoughts as well. Perhaps he could talk to Yuto Nakamura about this. He's already 34, if he kicks off the process now he may not be ready to represent the team until he is 35 (barring health and being selected). This will surely make the cost of giving up a Japanese passport even greater.
Hard disagree. He's much diminished from what he was five years ago when he joined Southern. He'd be a bench player at best for HK. You need to remember that the process for acquiring a passport could take more than a year due to bureaucracy.
Despite the loss against Lee Man, Hong Kong Football Club's Freddie Toomer played his final home game in which he will be retiring at the end of the season. I will always remember the moment he scored a goal with a bicycle kick a few years ago: Other than that, Chancey Cooke confirmed that the club will remain within the HKPL for the next two seasons and that will continue to build upon their youth players. At the same time, Cooke cannot confirm which players will remain or depart. Although Dominic Johns who had not played since he sustained a horrific injury a few seasons ago is set to re-join the club for next season. In other news, Ruslan Mingazow and Tan Chun Lok both made their long awaited returns after the two were ruled out with injuries as Kitchee scraped past BC Rangers courtesy of Sherzod Temirov's goal in which Chen Ngo Hin provided the assist.
Looks like the pressure really is beginning to mount on Tai Po FC as they could only secure a draw against Southern in which they needed a win to maintain pole position for the HKPL title. Captain Gabriel Cividini scored the first goal during the first half whilst Stefan Pereira and Wong Ho Yin scored two goals to give Southern the lead before Chung Wai Keung scored the equaliser during the final minutes. The draw meant that Lee Man are now currently one point ahead of Tai Po as they head in to the final three fixtures. Whilst I can understand that they are without Chan Siu Kwan and Igor Sartori due to injuries, but what is going on with Nicholas Benavides lately? If he doesn't win any first team opportunities with the club, this will certainly jeopardise any chances of him making it in to the national team and if he truly wants to get further game time and keep his place in the national set up, he will have to consider the option of looking for a new club as I don't believe that Lee Chi Kin has any sort of clear idea with what to do with him.
The Hong Kong U22 team for the Hong Kong Soccer Sevens had been named with some rather interesting inclusions: Poon Sheung Hei Jim Ho Chun Law Cheuk Hei Tang In Chim Tsang Chun Hin Chan Ho Ka Jovan Choi Dan Tong Wan Hei Ho Tung Lam Luis Gabor Salzmann Four players from Lee Man and two are from Hong Kong Football Club with the remaining four playing overseas. Both Tong Wan Hei and Ho Tung Lam were part of the U20 squad that played during last year's AFC U20 qualifiers in which Ho scored one of the two goals against Singapore. In addition, there is a first call up for Jovan Choi who currently plays with Portuguese division side CF Estrela da Amadora as well as for Luis Gabor Salzmann who plays for German seventh tier club 1. FC-TSG Königstein.
Ukrainian-born Oleksii Shilakotin acquired his HKSAR passport in which he has now become eligible to represent the HK national team. It has been reported that he will be named in the 37-man preliminary squad for the Manchester United, Nepal and India fixtures along with Eastern's Manuel Bleda who acquired his HKSAR passport last year as well as Vas Nunez who remains as a free agent. I'm sort of a bit mixed about Bleda's inclusion considering he hasn't barely clocked in much minutes for Eastern so far.
I'm not sold on Oleksii. He has the physical height - like Paulo - but I rank him below Yapp and Tse Ka Wing. I would rather play Ng and let him gain experience than a 35 year old Oleksii.
Apparently it seems like the Eastern players will not be available for the Manchester United friendly as Roberto Losada confirmed that they will be more focused on the FA Cup final which will be held a day after. However he did say that the players will join up with the preliminary squad after the FA Cup final. I think the same will possibly apply to BC Rangers as well. In other news, Shenzhen Peng City's Matt Orr sustained a muscle tear injury in which he hasn't played during the last two fixtures that could possibly mean that he will be ruled out for the Manchester United friendly as well as the June fixtures depending on whether he will recover in time or not. It will be interesting to see which players will be named in Westwood's 37-man preliminary squad and I'm actually hoping for a couple of fresh faces (that have caught my eye) to be named.
Lee Man secured a heart stopping late win against Kowloon City. They led 1-0 most of the match until 1 minute from the end of injury added-time when Kayron Batista Ramos took advantage of a careless mistake by goalkeeper Chan Ka-Ho to equal the score, only for Rosa to rise at the far post to head in a Kim Min-Kyu cross from the left at the very last minute. Lee Man maintains a slim one point lead heading into the final two rounds of league matches.
Hong Kong, China Representative Team will participate in the Defining Education Challenge Cup on 30 May 2025 in Hong Kong. The team will participate in an International Friendly Match and the AFC Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2027™ Qualifiers Finals Round, during the period from 2 to 10 June 2025. The preliminary squad with 37 players is as follows: Goalkeepers: Shliakotin OLEKSII (BC Rangers), YAPP Hung Fai (Eastern), NG Wai Him (Kwoon Chung Southern), CHAN Ka Ho (Lee Man), PONG Cheuk Hei (North District), TSE Ka Wing (Tai Po) Defenders: Christian Alexander JOJO (Eastern), Oliver Benjamin GERBIG (Henan F.C.), GONCALVES Helio Jose De Souza, Leon JONES (Kitchee), Luis Eduardo CHEBEL KLEIN NUNES (Lee Man), YUE Tze Nam (Meizhou Hakka), CHAN Shinichi (Shanghai Shenhua), SUN Ming Him (Tianjin Jinmen Tiger), TSUI Wang Kit (Yunnan Yukun), LILLEY NUNEZ Vasudeva Das Midfielders: NG Yu Hei (Chongqing Tonglianglong), Clement Sami Nicolas BENHADDOUCHE (Eastern), Fernando Augusto AZEVEDO PEDREIRA, NGAN Cheuk Pan, POON Pui Hin, TAN Chun Lok (Kitchee), Awal MAHAMA, Sohgo ICHIKAWA (Kwoon Chung Southern), Everton CAMARGO (Lee Man), Raphael Ayrton Lee MERKIES (Shandong Taishan), YU Jesse Joy Yin (Shijiazhuang Gongfu), Nicholas BENAVIDES MEDEIROS (Tai Po) Forwards: LAU Chi Lok (BC Rangers), Manuel BLEDA RODRIGUEZ (Eastern), SOARES BELITARDO JUNIOR Walter (Kitchee), Stefan FIGUEIREDO PEREIRA (Kwoon Chung Southern), WONG Wai (Lee Man), WONG Ho Chun Anson (Qingdao Hainiu), ORR Matthew Elliot Wing Kai (Shenzhen Peng City F.C.), CHAN Siu Kwan Philip (Tai Po), Michael Chibuikem UDEBULUZOR (VfR Mannheim) ============================================== As expected Oleksii (goalkeeper) and Manuel Bleda Rodriguez are in the preliminary squad. Let's see how things turn out. A little surprise is the inclusion of the long injured Tan Chun Lok of Kitchee. I have not seen him play for a long time. Hopefully he will be fit for the India match.
Well, I think it is hard for me to see whether Oleksii can surpass either Yapp, Tse or Ng and the same can also be applied to Bleda in which he hasn't clocked enough game time since his return to Eastern. Tan recently made a brief substitution appearance against Rangers and hopefully he can regain his form within the next couple of fixtures for Kitchee. Speaking on the selections, there are some that are quite questionable in which I wished they called upon some young players that had impressed recently from Kohki Takizawa Sung Wang Ngai of Tai Po, Li Wing Ho and Ma Yung Sung of Rangers, Lee Chun Ting of Eastern and Chen Ngo Hin of Kitchee in which they should at least be looked upon within the preliminary squad. In addition, I don't feel that Helio de Souza Goncalves is deemed good enough at this stage and then there's also the likes Poon Pui Hin who hasn't played a single match since March and struggled at Kitchee as well as Nicholas Benavides who was one of the players that thrived during last year's E-1 EAFF East Asia Cup qualifiers who hasn't had a handful of appearances with Tai Po lately, yet they still earned call ups. Also there are some players that have sustained injuries with the likes of Matt Orr, Chan Siu Kwan, Clement Benhaddouche named, however I'm not 100% certain whether they will be able to recover in time for the upcoming fixtures.
The video of Marcus Chang getting into a brawl in Lan Kwai Fong is making the rounds. Lee Man have rightfully banned him for the rest of the season. Such a daft thing to do in the age of cellphones everywhere.
Is he replacing Talley? Read that Talley has not received a contract extension yet despite his excellent form this year.
It will be a real shock if Talley departs, but having already kept six clean sheets this season, I'd thought he would had warranted a contract extension by now. But I do not want Kitchee and Ken Ng to make the same mistake they did last season when they released Charlie Scott. Speaking of goalkeepers for Kitchee, I could see Pong possibly act as the club's secondary choice should Talley remain. However, Pong's inclusion could also see Ainikaer Maihemuti and Tuscany Shek being pushed down the pack even further and at this stage and I predict that Wang Zhenpeng will likely to retire at the end of the season.
In other news, BC Rangers' Barak Braunshtain is hoping to speed up his HKSAR application process in hopes of representing the national team in time for the India match.
An extra option is always good I suppose but I don't see him playing a key role. My hopes are on Tan Chun Lok being healthy enough to play, he's the real irreplaceable difference maker for the HK team.
Hong Kong are going to miss out on Aaron Keller (who is eligible for the HK national team) after he commits his international career to Switzerland.