Will agree that Kyle's future commitments in football is certainly up in the air and Michael Udebuluzor really need to settle and find a club otherwise this will hurt his chances on making the national team. As for Matthew Slattery, I've heard rumours and speculation that he is set to depart from Kitchee to join Kowloon City FC. Whilst he still has plenty of time to decide on which nation he wants to represent, it will certainly be up to McGunngle, but at least he did say that he is still open to playing for Hong Kong in the future. I'd probably hope that the HKFA and Roberto Losada (considering that his objective was to inject more youth in to the set up) will want to monitor and maybe an opportunity to hold conversations with him about his future international commitments.
Lee Man has unveiled their new head coach with former Wellington Phoenix manager, Giancarlo Italiano being named.
A 50 man preliminary squad is named for the 2026 Asian Games football event that include senior based players from Ng Wai Him, Alex Jojo, Helio, Leon Jones, Li Ngai Hoi, Wong Ho Yin, Oliver Gerbig, Yu Wai Lim, Vas Nunez, Yu Joy Yin, Wu Chun Ming, Ngan Cheuk Pan, Law Chun Ting. Lau Chi Lok, Poon Pui Hin, Raphael Merkies and Matt Orr named.
I'd pretty much assume that the majority of those senior players will probably end up playing for the senior national team side considering that the Asian Games event will clash with the FIFA ASEAN Cup. In addition, I believe this also clashes with any of the players from Kitchee and Tai Po who are participating in the ACL2 group matches although I could asssume some of their young players are not likely to feature for the fixtures.
Here is a 48-man squad named for the Hong Kong U20 side that in preparation for the AFC U20 Asian Cup qualifiers in August. They will also face Myanmar U20s in July as well.
Former Hong Kong footballer of the Year and head coach of Supreme FC, Lo Kwan Yee and current Kitchee U18 head coach Poon Man Chun are among the 19 others were arrested by the ICAC for their involvemement in an orchestrated local match fixing and illegal World Cup betting. This cannot be a good look for Lo considering that he is due to coach newly promoted Sha Tin SC.
Tai Po FC announced their player departures which sees the likes of foreigners Patrick Valverde, Michel Renner and a number of local players from Lee Lok Him, Alexandre Dujaedin, Kokhi Takizawa Sung Wang Ngai, Kwok Chun Nok to Chung Wai Keung. In other news, former Hong Kong international Cheng Siu Kwan announced what seems to be his retirement from Lee Man as he departs to England.
Michael Udebuluzor signs with Lee Man. On the other hand, Southern District has made a number of fresh and interesting signings with the likes of Cheng Tsz Sum, Tatsuya Inoue, Poon Pui Hin, Lee Ching, Wong Ho Chun as well as Callum Hall and former Bournemouth AFC U21 midfielder Balraj Landa.
Will always wonder how Jørn would've done with this current pool of players considering how many made their debuts after he left. I feel like he would've done better than Westwood and it's still odd the HKFA went with Losada if Jørn was interested in the role again. We'll see how Myanmar and Jørn do in the FIFA ASEAN Cup since I assume they'll also face Hong Kong in Division 2.
2025/26 champions Kitchee will be revealing their first team tomorrow. Speaking of Kitchee: This is a very interesting piece of speculative news. Young players Sohgo Ichikawa and Chan Yun Tung both joined Lee Man from Southern District.
Former Lee Man players Everton Camargo and Dudu along with former Tai Po defender Marcao have been unveiled as Kitchee's newest signings. They also are closing in on a new striker from Europe who is undergoing a medical.
Tai Po revealed their squad list for the 2026/27 season. Not much variation in terms of local players even though Chan Hoi Pak and Chang Hei Yin joined.
The final 23 man squad for the 2026 Asian Games football event: Helio Goncalves, Wu Chun Ming and Ngan Cheuk Pan have been named as the three senior based players to assist with the Under-23 players. Tsang Yi Hang, Sohgo Ichikawa who were part of the team that reached the semi-finals in the last edition were named whilst players who were already capped by the senior team from Ma Hei Wai, Ng Yu Hei, Michael Udebuluzor and Anthony Pinto have also been named. In addition, former Lee Man head coach Tsang Chiu Tat will take charge of the U23s in which it had been speculated that Darren Arnott will be named as the new head coach of Hong Kong Football Club.
Cautiously optimistic with this squad, although right back looks to be the weakest position. Assuming Kitchee blocked Jay Haddow and Chi-Kin Jason Kam from being called up because the Asian Games conflict with the start of the ACL2. Excited to see Chin Yu Ho as part of the U23 team at only 18 years old. Hope to see more young players developing outside of Hong Kong.
The draws for the 2026 Asian Games football events for the men and womens took place today. The mens are placed in Group A where they face against the hosts Japan, Thailand and Kyrgyzstan whilst the womens are placed in Group G with China, the Philippines and Uzbekistan.
Eastern District have unveiled their squad list for the 2026/27 season, with former Tai po players Lucas Sliva, Michel Renner, Kohki Takizawa Sung Wang Ngai, Krisna Korani, Luizinho formerly of Kowloon City, Dani Almazan formerly of Eastern SC, ex-Kitchee youth player Marco Pirie and Charlie Scott who left Kitchee two seasons ago makes his return to Hong Kong football. It is a real shame that Scott departed two seasons ago in which if he remained in the HKPL, it would had been a step forward for him to achieve naturalisation in order to play for the Hong Kong national football team during the time.
The draw for the FIFA ASEAN Cup has been made and as hosts, Hong Kong are in Group A where they will face off against Myanmar and Brunei. This will be an interesting encounter as Roberto Losada's side will face off against their former manager Jorn Andersen who recently thrashed the Philippines in the ASEAN Cup.
In addition, here are the fixtures that will commence on 21st August with Eastern SC taking on newcomers Shatin on the opening match.
It is a shame that the HKFA couldn't quite get Mitchell Lee Baker to represent the national team, but at least there is a decent chance that they can still get his younger brother Joshua to potentially represent Hong Kong in the future having already represented the youth teams.
I don't believe Mitchell Baker would have been eligible to represent Hong Kong, only Australia and Indonesia. While he did live in Hong Kong for 10 years, he was born in Australia and moved back to Australia, which reset his residency clock and required him to stay another 7 years in Hong Kong to receive a passport. For Joshua, I think his path is similar to Jay Haddow's in which he would have to return to Hong Kong, sign for an HKPL team, and then apply for a passport. And if he ends up playing in college, that further delays the process or allows Indonesia to call him up.