Hong Kong Football Association

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hong Kong Football Association
AFC
HKFA crest.svg
Founded1914; 107 years ago (1914)
FIFA affiliation1954
AFC affiliation1954
EAFF affiliation2002
PresidentTimothy Fok
Websitewww.HKFA.com
Hong Kong Football Association
HK HKFA HQ.JPG
The headquarters of HKFA in Ho Man Tin.
Traditional Chinese香港足球總會

The Hong Kong Football Association Limited (Chinese: 香港足球總會), often abbreviated to the HKFA, is the governing body of association football in Hong Kong. Its current chairman is Pui Kwan Kay and its Chief Executive Officer is Joaquin Tam.[1]

History[]

The HKFA was established in 1914. It is one of the oldest Football Federations in Asia and is responsible for organising various football competitions including professional and amateur leagues, football development and promoting football in Hong Kong.

In 1954, HKFA joined FIFA, and was also one of twelve founding associations of the Asian Football Confederation. Hong Kong played an important role in the early development of Asian football, and was given the honour of hosting the first Asian Cup competition in 1956, in which Hong Kong came third in the tournament.

Having been a part of the British Empire, and, more recently part of the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong fields a separate FIFA-recognised representative team.

HKFA is also responsible for operating the Hong Kong national football team (Chinese: 香港足球代表隊), which represents Hong Kong and competes in international football events.

HKFA's president is Timothy Fok SBS JP. The association is currently led by chairman Brian Leung Hung-tak.

Reform of Hong Kong Football[]

Project Phoenix[]

Project Phoenix is a government-supported project. It is a strategy and action plan to reform Hong Kong football from top to bottom.

2010–11[]

Former The FA executive director David Davies led the team of change agent - Scott Wilson Group, which was appointed by Hong Kong Football Association in September 2010 to carry out the reform and restructuring of football in Hong Kong.[2]

On 21 November 2011, HKFA named as its first Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Gordon, the former Chairman of the Scottish Rugby Union, had served HKFA for only ten months and resign from his post in September 2012 with personal reasons.[3]

On 17 December 2011, HKFA appointed Ernie Merrick as the National Head Coach of Hong Kong Football Team. Merrick told to media that he felt honor to have an opportunity to participate the development and growing of Hong Kong football. Merrick won two titles in six season for Melbourne Victory. He started his new role on 9 January 2012.[4]

On 23 December 2011, Kim Pan-Gon named National Academy Coach. Coach Kim will be wholly responsible for the identification, development and coaching of all players aged 18 and below.[5]

2012–13[]

On 17 April 2012, Australian Steve O'Connor was appointed as the new technical director. The former head coach of the football program at the Australian Institute of Sport will take up his new post in will be responsible to improve the standards of local coaching, referee development, community and youth football activities and women's football. He will also oversee the implementation of elite player development pathways from grassroots football to senior international level.[6]

On 17 September 2012, HKFA appointed Mark Sutcliffe to replace Gordon Mckie as the CEO of HKFA.

On 7 February 2013, the Hong Kong Football Association stated that the new Premier League would get under way in Autumn 2014, where it was suggested that the 2013–14 season would be a transition year.

On 28 May 2013, HKFA promoted Korean coach Kim Pan-Gon to replace Ernie Merrick as the head coach of Hong Kong national team.

2015[]

In June 2015, The Government turned green light to build a national training centre in Tseung Kwan O. The budget of construction will be fully supported by the Hong Kong Jockey Club.

On 29 November 2015, Asian Football Confederation awarded the AFC Developing Member Association of the Year award to Hong Kong Football Association in recognition of its professional administration and governance as well its exceptional contribution to the development and promotion of the game at all levels within the country.[7]

2019[]

On 4 December 2019, Asian Football Confederation awarded the ÁFC Developing Member Association of the Year award to Hong Kong Football Association in recognition of excellent work in football development, women and girls football, community and district football, referee development, sports science, charitable projects and the expansion of facilities with the opening on the long awaited Football Training Centre.

Criticism[]

Timothy Fok has served as president of the Hong Kong Football Association since 1997, after his father held the position for almost 30 years.[8] In July 2020, the Legislative Council's Public Accounts Committee criticized the HKFA under Timothy Fok, stating its governance was "appalling and inexcusable".[9] It noted that an internal audit committee, designed to review the association's use of taxpayer funding, was not active between 2015 and 2019, despite receiving HK$34 million in funding for the 2017-18 year.[9] Members of the Legislative Council also questioned if that taxpayer money was justified and well spent.[10] After HKFA's governance was criticized, the Legislative Council wanted to appoint board members to improve HKFA's governance, but the HKFA rejected the idea and claimed candidates should go through proper election procedures.[11]

In 2020, the government's Audit Commission criticized HKFA, stating that the government had given HK$160,000,000 of taxpayer money to the HKFA but there was little improvement, and that Project Phoenix had a "lack of progress".[12] The report stated that some performance metrics had even declined since 2009, rather than improving.[12]

Funding[]

In terms of government funding, the HKFA is has been one of the top receivers of taxpayer money out of all National Sports Associations in Hong Kong.[13][14] Excluding one-time grants, it receives money from the Sports Subvention Scheme (SSS) and the Arts and Sport Development Fund (ASDF).

Primary sources of government funding ($HKD); does not include all funding sources
Year 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22
Sports Subvention Scheme $19,852,000 $20,894,000 $20,255,250 $18,471,564
Arts and Sport Development Fund $25,400,000 $32,996,120 $33,900,000
Total (approximate) $45.25 M $53.89 M $54.16 M

Staff[]

Chairman[]

Name Tenure start Tenure end
Jack Skinner 1950 1956
Victor Hui 1996 1999
Martin Hong 1999 2007
Brian Leung 2007 2019
Pui Kwan Kay 2019 Present

Chief Executive Officer[]

Name Tenure start Tenure end
1 Gordon McKie 2011 2012
2 Mark Sutcliffe 2012 2018
3 Paul Woodland 2018 2020
4 Joaquin Tam 2021 Incumbent
Name Position Source
Hong Kong Timothy Fok Tsun-ting President [15][16]
Hong Kong Vice President [17][18]
Hong Kong General Secretary [19][20]
Hong Kong Treasurer [21]
Vacant Technical Director [22][23]
Vacant Team Coach (Men's) [24][25]
Brazil Ricardo Team Coach (Women's) [26][27]
Vacant Media/Communications Manager [28]
Hong Kong Tsang Wai Chung Futsal Coordinator [29]
Hong Kong Allen Lau Referee Coordinator [30]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ HKFA appoints Yuen as General Secretary
  2. ^ Ex-England soccer chief helps HK South China Morning Post 2010-10-06
  3. ^ HKFA names Gordon McKie as CEO RTHK. 21 November 2011.
  4. ^ Former Melbourne Victory coach Ernie Merrick to coach Hong Kong Herald Sun. David Davutovic. 17 December 2011.
  5. ^ HKFA appoint National Academy Coach HKFA.com. 23 December 2011.
  6. ^ Aussie O'Connor happy to sign on as HKFA technical director Archived 2012-05-22 at the Wayback Machine The Standard. 18 April 2012.
  7. ^ "AFC DEVELOPING MA OF THE YEAR 2015: HONG KONG". Asian Football Confederation. 29 Nov 2015.
  8. ^ "Eric Fok says 12 years in England forged his passion for football". South China Morning Post. 2021-03-15. Retrieved 2021-06-19.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b "Lawmakers cry foul over HKFA's management - RTHK". news.rthk.hk. Retrieved 2021-06-19.
  10. ^ "Hong Kong football saved but lambasted FA under scrutiny". South China Morning Post. 2020-07-03. Retrieved 2021-07-14.
  11. ^ "Thanks, but no thanks: HKFA rejects government appointees to board". South China Morning Post. 2020-06-09. Retrieved 2021-07-19.
  12. ^ Jump up to: a b "Hong Kong FA criticised for making 'little progress' since 2011". South China Morning Post. 2020-04-29. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  13. ^ "Subvention to National Sports Associations" (PDF). Hong Kong LCSD.
  14. ^ "Replies to initial written questions raised by Finance Committee Members in examining the Estimates of Expenditure 2021-22" (PDF). LegCo Home Affairs Bureau.
  15. ^ https://www.fifa.com/associations/association/hkg/about
  16. ^ "The AFC.com - The Asian Football Confederation". The AFC. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  17. ^ https://www.fifa.com/associations/association/hkg/about
  18. ^ "The AFC.com - The Asian Football Confederation". The AFC. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  19. ^ https://www.fifa.com/associations/association/hkg/about
  20. ^ "The AFC.com - The Asian Football Confederation". The AFC. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  21. ^ https://www.fifa.com/associations/association/hkg/about
  22. ^ https://www.fifa.com/associations/association/hkg/about
  23. ^ "The AFC.com - The Asian Football Confederation". The AFC. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  24. ^ https://www.fifa.com/associations/association/hkg/about
  25. ^ "The AFC.com - The Asian Football Confederation". The AFC. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  26. ^ https://www.fifa.com/associations/association/hkg/about
  27. ^ "The AFC.com - The Asian Football Confederation". The AFC. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  28. ^ https://www.fifa.com/associations/association/hkg/about
  29. ^ https://www.fifa.com/associations/association/hkg/about
  30. ^ https://www.fifa.com/associations/association/hkg/about

External links[]

Retrieved from ""