The team is selected from the top players in the Hong Kong First Division League. Both Hong Kong and foreign players, including those from mainland China, can be included in the team. However, as the quality of local players is usually lower, it has been often that most of the outfield players are foreigners.
In recent years, to order to enable local footballers to gain more international experience, the Hong Kong Football Association has fielded the Hong Kong national football team in matches which were previously played by the Hong Kong League XI. Therefore, the League XI has not formed a squad for a few years. However, the team returned and competed in the 2007 Lunar New Year Cup.[needs update]
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Footnotes[]
^ abcdeHong Kong Football Association sent a team that consisted of players who represented Republic of China (Taiwan) and Hong Kong, as well as Western expatiates from 1957 to 1961; they did not participate in 1962; in the 1963 to 1967 editions, Republic of China (Taiwan) formally joined the tournament, despite all Republic of China international footballers being based in Hong Kong;[2][3] the Hong Kong national team also joined from the 1965 edition in parallel with Republic of China national team
^Mostly Eastern AA players; all ethnic Chinese, most of them capped for Republic of China (Taiwan) (9 out of 14),[4][5] with the exception of [zh] and (司徒堯) who capped for Hong Kong, as well as uncapped Kwok Yau (郭有) who later capped for Republic of China (Taiwan); overlapped with the squad of Hong Kong Chinese official football team
^Mostly KMB players, most of them capped for Republic of China (Taiwan)[6]
^ 華協會長沈瑞慶赴台接洽昨返港 中華民國決定參加默迪卡賽. Wah Kiu Yat Po (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Hong Kong. 24 July 1963. p. 16 – via Hong Kong Public Libraries.
^ 中國决定參加默迪卡足球賽. Wah Kiu Yat Po (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Hong Kong. 7 August 1964. p. 3 – via Hong Kong Public Libraries.
^ Written at Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong. 默迪卡國際足球賽結束 聯合邦元首嚴端 以總理杯贈港球隊. Wah Kiu Yat Po (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). content from Agence France-Presse was incorporated. Hong Kong. 9 September 1957. p. 8 – via Hong Kong Public Libraries.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
^Lee, John C.W. (2015). 足球王國：戰後初期的香港足球 (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Hong Kong: Joint Publishing. p. 72. ISBN9789620437823. Retrieved 18 December 2017 – via Google Book preview.
^ 默迪卡足球賽香港大爆冷門馬來勝三比零. Wah Kiu Yat Po (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Hong Kong. 2 September 1958. p. 8 – via Hong Kong Public Libraries.
^ 香港默賽代表隊廿二嘉山戰華聯. Wah Kiu Yat Po (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Hong Kong. 19 August 1959. p. 8 – via Hong Kong Public Libraries.
^ 香港足球代表隊今午飛馬來亞參加默迪卡賽參戰七國實力均強港隊應努力爭勝. Wah Kiu Yat Po (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Hong Kong. 26 August 1959. p. 8 – via Hong Kong Public Libraries.
^ 華聯在星慘敗詳情. Wah Kiu Yat Po (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Hong Kong. 15 August 1959. p. 8 – via Hong Kong Public Libraries.
^參加默迪卡杯足球賽 香港以傑志爲班底 七名救兵日內抵步助陣 新加坡隊定本週四北上. Nanyang Siang Pau (in Traditional Chinese). Singapore. 2 August 1960. p. 11. Retrieved 18 December 2017 – via Singapore National Library.
^參加默杯賽九國球員名單號碼. Nanyang Siang Pau (in Traditional Chinese). Singapore. 12 August 1960. p. 11. Retrieved 18 December 2017 – via Singapore National Library.
^ 足總補選兩將赴默迪卡作賽. Wah Kiu Yat Po (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Hong Kong. 15 July 1961. p. 12 – via Hong Kong Public Libraries.
Khmer 
Hong Kong League XI 
Kristijan Naumovski
Hong Kong Pegasus
Dani Cancela
Eduardo Praes
Andy Russell
Admir Adrović
Yoon Dong-hun
Kenji Fukuda
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