Supreme Football Club's boss Jim Wong (35 years old) is going to register himself as a player in the HKPL next season. This will make him the first boss//player of the HKPL ever. Jim Wong is also the owner of concert organizer Live Nation and allegedly a multi-millionaire.
In addition to Roberto Losada, several other names have also applied for the vacancy role of the head coach which include: Miodrag Radulovic - Former Lebanon, Montenegro and Myanmar head coach Alen Horvat - coached a number of Arab based clubs Abdullah Al-Mutairi - Current head coach of Sri Lanka Losada is likely to take charge of June's international friendly fixtures. Source: https://www.scmp.com/sport/football...&utm_campaign=3353167&utm_medium=share_widget
A 41 man preliminary squad was named for the upcoming June friendly international fixtures. Rangers' Cheng Tsz Sum is named in the squad for the first time whilst uncapped players Callum Beattie, Jay Haddow, Loong Tsz Hin, Remi Dujardin and Lee Lok Him are also called up. I wonder should the HKNT consider looking in to more diaspora players to bolster their squad?
HKNT will play Mongolia at home on 5 June at Hong Kong Stadium at 8 pm, before travelling on 7 June to Cambodia for an away friendly with the hosts on 9 June. With all due respect, neither Mongolia nor Cambodia post much threats on paper. But still we need to get our acts together and play some good football.
Looks like there is a very good chance that Hong Kong Football Club may remain in the Hong Kong Premier League next season. Although the players were informed, many of them had already found new clubs, meaning that they will likely have to restart from scratch. 2026/27 season of participating HKPL clubs based on what we know: 1. Kitchee 2. Lee Man 3. Tai Po 4. Eastern Sports Club 5. North District 6. KC Southern 7. BC Rangers 8. Kowloon City FC 9. Eastern District FC 10. Hong Kong Football Club 11. Sha Tin-Supreme FC 12. WSE? Is it usually one or two clubs getting promoted to the Hong Kong Premier League depending on whether they have the appropriate licensing requirements?
I hope we get 12 clubs for 26-27 because this past season some of the match-ups do get repetitive as the season went on. HKFC remaining in the HKPL is good because they do have their own nice little stadium and it has good atmosphere. They also have been nurturing some good local talents as well. They have been good for the HKPL.
Kitchee Asier Illaramendi extended his contract to stay with the club until 2027. 42 year old goalkeeper Wang Zhenpeng who has been with the club since 2005 is set to retire at end of the season. Kowloon City Brazilians Luizinho and Kayron are both set to leave with Luizinho set to join Eastern District whilst Kayron is set to join KC Southern. Youngsters Lee Chun Ting and Loong Tsz Hin will be transferred over to Eastern Sports Club. Lee Man: After 4 years, Brazilian-Hong Kong forward Everton Camargo announced his departure from Lee Man. It is rumoured that he is set to join Kitchee. Eastern Sports Club: Liu Fu Yuen, Manuel Bleda, Wong Tsz Ho, Dani Almazan and Callum Hall all set to depart. Hong Kong Football Club: Toby Down announced his retirement at the end of the season. Their youth teams have been doing really well especially with the U-22 team that recently won their first HKPL U22 title. Will also add that the club does have some very decent young and local players in which some from the likes of Raphael Merkies, Timothy Chow as well as Callum Beattie have all went on to join other HKPL clubs. Cai McGunnigle is another one of the youngsters who shone during the recent games having scored three times during the Challenging Group. If they do confirm that they are staying the HKPL, I do hope that the club will provide sufficient funding for them to get decent local and experienced players within the transfer market and since Chancey Cooke is departing from the role, hire a coach who can manage the team properly.
Kitchee's Ken Ng denied the club has made any contact with Edinson Cavani, but does admit that they are looking for a star striker. He says the club is 90% done with assembling the squad for 26-27 season. He also said the minimum requirement is to advance to the knock-out stage of ACL2. So I hope Kitchee does bring us a star striker, but they also need to shore up their defence.
Kitchee Matheus Dantas is set to be leaving the club after two seasons as his contract will not be renewed. Law Tsz Chun is also set to depart as he will be joining Lo Kwan Yee and Lam Ka Wai's newly promoted Supreme FC. Lee Man Noah Baffoe, Dostonbek Tursunov, Willian Gaucho and Ryoya Tachibana are set to stay. Dudu is set to depart from the club in which it is speculated that he will be joining alongside Everton Camargo at Kitchee.
The context behind this is that Luis Milla has been linked with both the Lee Man and the HK team jobs. His agency is denying that he's been offered either job yet.
This would slightly align with what Norman Lee hinted that Lee Man's new head coach is European and had experience coaching in Asia in which Luis Milla had from the Indonesia NT and Persib Bandung in the past.
Eastern District booked their place in the final after they bested North District by penalties where they will face off against Tai Po FC next Saturday.
Final 23 man squad named for the upcoming June international friendlies against Mongolia and Cambodia with Jay Haddow and Remi Dujardin named.
Also to add, according to Kenneth Fok, it looks like they have decided on their next head coach in which there will be a press conference within next month.
Wanted to ask - do you reckon Tse or Pong will start these 2 friendlies? Who is the #1 going forward, at least until Yapp returns from injury?
I predict they may continue onward with Pong Cheuk Hei deputising as the number one spot ahead of Tse Ka Wing. My concern for Tse is that he hasn't played much lately during the the latter stages of the Hong Kong Premier League in which this could impact his form unless he plays during the FA Cup final in two days time (even though he has fallen behind Lo Siu Kei.) Yip Ka Yiu has been playing regularly with Rangers in which he could be tested in either of the two friendlies. Not sure what the future holds for Yapp Hung Fai as he will need to regain his form having been sidelined for a while through injury. But I do feel that the HKNT need to work on his successor either ways. In addition, I do think that the HKFA will need to consider scouting around for any diaspora or local-born players around the globe such as Joshua Baker (which has been on trend for several Asian teams) in an attempt to convince them to represent and bolster the HKNT. Also, the HKFA should monitor the progress of Hong Kong Football Club's Cai McGunnigle (as well as Jack Bennie, Nicholas Kedwards and Pau Anglada.) Whilst he had represented Scotland at Under-16 level, I believe he is still eligible to represent HKNT in the future.
The Hong Kong U20 side are placed in a rather tough and difficult group as they will travel to Qatar to face the hosts, Saudi Arabia and Oman.
Interesting developments going on associated wuth the status of Hong Kong Football Club players. Although I have a feeling on which players could be departing and potentially join other HKPL clubs, I do hope one of those clubs picked up Cai McGunnigle.
Selfishly, I hope McGunnigie will be like other HK stars who played for foreign U teams before representing HK: Sean Tse, Leon Jones, Jay Haddow, etc.
Tai Po FC secured their second FA Cup trophy after Chan Siu Kwan's two goal brace gave the club the win against Eastern District. They will occupy the second AFC Champions League 2 spot joining HKPL champions Kitchee. There had already been some departures in which Lucas Silva and James Temelkovski left the club as well as speculation that Michel Renner and Patrick Valverde are also set to leave. Chan Siu Kwan, Lee Ka Ho, Tse Ka Wing, Lo Siu Kei and Wong Hin Sum are set to remain with the club as does Weverton, Igor Sartori, Paulinho and Fernando.
I think this was a rather popular choice. I can't wait to see him perform against opponents in the ACL2. Hopefully Kitchee can land another quality player like him for next season. While he led a successful campaign this past season, I think after securing the title his team has become much more lackluster. I hope he finds a way to get his team to stay at a high level next season as Kitchee battles on two fronts.
Shinichi Chan was probably the only constant in Westwood's rotating squad. In a season where most clubs used local goalkeepers and veteran Yapp Hung-Fai being sidelined, it was kind of hard to find one who stood out. Yip Ka-Yu (Rangers), Pong Cheuk-Hei (Kitchee) and Tse Ka-Wing (Tai Po) all played well. But Chan Ka-Ho probably edged it. Paulo Cesar was outstanding all season despite his age, I actually wished he had played for HKNT against Singapore. Maybe if he had played...
Okubo Yu was superb in a disappointing season for Eastern FC. He is the best Japanese import since Kanda Yumemi.