The ( of the
People's Republic Of China in international
Football (soccer) events such as the
World Cup ,
Asian Cup and
East Asian Cup under the team name "'''
Hong Kong, China '''" (simply ''Hong Kong'' before 1997) . The team is supervised by the
Hong Kong Football Association Ltd .
The team had been representing Hong Kong in international football events before
1997 when Hong Kong was a
Colony of the
United Kingdom . It continues to represent Hong Kong even after Hong Kong was
Handed Over to the People's Republic of China by the United Kingdom and became a
Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China in 1997. This team is a separate team from the
China National Football Team , as the
Basic Law and the principle of "
One Country, Two Systems " allows Hong Kong to maintain its own representive teams in international sports competitions.
Hong Kong played its first ever international match in
1949 , against
South Korea . Its first victory came in
1953 , a 4-0 win against South Korea.
Hong Kong qualified for three of the first four editions of the
Asian Cup , including a third place finish in
1956 as hosts.
Hong Kong has never qualified for the
World Cup . However, its most celebrated victory happened during
1986 World Cup Qualifying . On
May 19 1985 , in
Beijing , Hong Kong faced
China in the final match of the first qualifying round, where the team needed a win to advance (while China needed only a draw). Hong Kong produced a 2-1 upset win, thereby winning the group and advancing to the knockout stage, where it subsequently lost to
Japan . To this day, this match is still remembered by many football fans in Hong Kong and China and remains one of the most humiliating losses in Chinese football history.
On
February 9 2005 , to celebrate the 90th anniversary of both the
Hong Kong Football Association and the
Brazilian Football Confederation , Hong Kong hosted
2002 World Cup champions
Brazil in a friendly match. Brazil easily won 7-1.
Hong Kong plays its home matches at the
Hong Kong Stadium , where they are also hosting an annual international tournament known as the
Carlsberg Cup .
- 2003 - Fourth place
- 2005 - ''Did not qualify''
