League Profile of the Hong Kong First Division Football League

The Hong Kong First Division Football League is a professional soccer league under the Hong Kong Football Association.

The Hong Kong First Division Football League was established in 1908, and has a history of over a century. It is the first professional soccer league in Hong Kong, and the first professional league in Asia. It is the highest level in the Hong Kong Football League system and is under the responsibility of the Hong Kong Football Association. Since its establishment, South China has won the championship 39 times; Seiko nine times; and Discovery Park six times. Eleven teams are competing in this year's league, including last year's Hong Kong Group B Football League champions and runners-up Shatin and Tai Chung Promotion.

The history is as follows:

1. Origin of the league

With the signing of the Treaty of Nanking between the then Qing government and the British Empire, Hong Kong Island was ceded to the latter. British artillery and the Royal Navy brought soccer to Hong Kong, where participation was then restricted to foreigners.

In 1886, the Hong Kong Football Association (HKFA), Asia's longest running soccer club, was founded by staff from British merchant houses. The Hong Kong Football Senior Silver Medal Tournament, Asia's first soccer tournament, was launched in 1896, and was won by sailors from the Shandoland, a British warship stationed in Hong Kong, with the Kowloon Football Club (KFC) as the second runner-up.

In 1908, the Hong Kong First Division Football League was formally organized and established, and the first league **** had 8 teams participating, which were the five British Army teams of Baffert's Army, Dockyards, Artillery, Engineers, and Medical Officers, as well as the three foreign organizations of the YMCA, the Portuguese Portuguese Society, and the Boy's Own Club, which had all foreign players, and no Chinese participation. The first league match was held on December 5, 2011 at 2:00pm at the Happy Valley Army Stadium, with the result of a 1-1 draw between the two teams, and the champion of the first league match was the Army.

2. The Early Years

In the early years of the Hong Kong Football League, only foreign players participated in the league, and the first 15 Hong Kong First Division champions were monopolized by the British Army and foreigners, and it was not until 1923-24 that South China became the first Chinese team to win the First Division title. In 1923-24, South China became the first Chinese team to win the First Division title. China, formed by the departure of South China's main players, won three consecutive First Division titles from 1927-28 to 1929-30, becoming the first team in Hong Kong's soccer history to win three consecutive league titles.

3. Post-war revival

After a lull in the Second World War, the Hong Kong First Division soccer league resumed in early 1946, with only 10 teams taking part in the inaugural tournament, which was won by the Air Force, with the 44th Battalion Golden Coronation coming in second place, and Orient coming in third place. In the early post-war period, there were seven Chinese teams competing in the Hong Kong First Division Football League, namely South China, Oriental, Kwong Wah, Jetty, Sing Tao, Chung Wah and KMB, collectively known as the "Seven Chinese Clubs".

4. The Boom Years

From the 1950s to the early 1980s, the Hong Kong First Division Football League was in its heyday, and soccer matches were all the rage in Hong Kong, with the "South China Cup Battle" being a huge hit, with fans waiting all night for tickets. South China, KMB, Jetty, Sing Tao, Discovery Park, Tung Wah, and the later emergence of Seiko and Bulova were all popular with the fans.

5. The Decline Years

Due to the abuse of foreign aid by the teams, the teams lost a lot of money, and faced with other entertainment competition, Hong Kong's football market began to decline in the mid-1980s, and the three years of the "All Chinese Class" pushed the market into a decline. Starting from the 1979-1980 season, the Police Force ceased to rent the Flower Market Stadium to the HKFA for Division 1 matches, and on June 8, 1984, Bulova announced its withdrawal from the game. In 1986, Seiko announced its withdrawal from the game, and although the "Oriental Dynasty" in the early 1990s, together with commercial teams Ernest Borel and Express, had brought about a small boom in the market, in 1998, a soccer match-fixing scandal was uncovered, and players Chan Tze-kiang, Lau Chi-yuen, Wai Kwan-lung, Chan Chi-keung and Luk Ka-wing were sentenced to jail and suspended for life, causing the market to enter a winter again. The market has gone into a cold winter again.

6. The Age of Innovation

A number of proposals to improve the development of the Hong Kong Football League were adopted, such as the introduction of the Hong Kong Football Betting, the merger with the Chinese Football Association Premier League, and the introduction of mainland teams (such as the South City Properties, the Red Bulls of U.N. Wah, and the Sheffield United), and so on. In recent years, many teams have started to own their own home stadiums in order to enhance the impact of their home matches and to attract local fans, e.g. Tai Po Football Club, Tin Shui Wai Pegasus, etc. The Hong Kong Football Association has also invited a number of local football teams to play in the Hong Kong Football Association's home stadiums. The Hong Kong Football Association (HKFA) has also invited many famous foreign teams to visit Hong Kong in order to increase the number of spectators to the matches with the attraction of strong teams. In addition, Hong Kong teams have also invited famous former members of the Chinese national soccer team to join the team, such as Wu Qunli, Gong Lei, Fan Zhiyi, Zhang Enhua, Li Haiqiang and so on.

In March 2004, there was the worst fighting incident in 30 years in the First Division League, with as many as 15 players being suspended, and in March 2009, there was the Tuen Mun Pukko Football Club's Fake Waves scandal and in May 2010, a number of national supporters at Discovery Park were involved in the Fake Waves scandal, with the ICAC intervening in the investigation, and the national player, Yu Yeung, was eventually sentenced to imprisonment.

In mid-July 2008, the Hong Kong Football Association decided to set up a four-member panel to study the establishment of a professional soccer league, comprising of South China Football Association (SCFA) chairman Roger Cheng, Jiezhi General Manager Team Kin, Discovery Park Football Association (DBFA) director and director Chan Man-chun, and Four Seas Football Association (SSFA) owner Chan Tin-yau, who were responsible for writing a proposal for the panel to make reference to the soccer league systems, regimes and modes of operation of a number of advanced soccer countries in East Asia, as well as the relationship and mode of cooperation between them and the relevant football associations. Relationships, modes of cooperation and documents/contracts between soccer associations. The proposal also addresses the problems of the Hong Kong Football League over the years, including issues such as venue allocation and the promotion and elevation system. The plan was unanimously supported by all 9 Division 1 clubs that sent representatives to the meeting, and the HKFL proposal was drafted and submitted to the HKFA Board of Directors for consideration.

On May 25, 2009, the Hong Kong Football Association announced the formation of a working group at its board meeting, comprising South China Football Club (SCFC) representative Roger Cheng, JC General Manager Team Kin, HKFA representative Chairman Leung Kung-tak, Deputy Director General Lam Shing Kui, and Legal Advisor Wong Kwok-kei. However, the plan was ultimately rejected by the same assembly, only to adopt the proposal of the host-guest system.

On August 18, 2011, HKFA director and SCAA owner Roger Cheng announced on his blog that he had reached an agreement with Now Broadband Television to turn channel 634 into the Hong Kong Football Channel, which would produce programs on Hong Kong's first division, second and third division leagues, youth and academy tournaments. The production cost of the channel will be partly sponsored by Now Broadband TV and partly borne by the football clubs and the HKFA, while the advertising revenue of the TV station will be handed over to the HKFA for sharing after deducting the relevant expenses. The new channel will broadcast the season opener between Jiezhi and Chenxi on September 3rd.

On March 3, 2013, Secretary General of Tai Po Football Club, the current Senior Division silver medalist, Chan Ping, pointed out that the team has the same financial difficulties as the three regional clubs, Southern District Football Club and Tuen Mun Football Club. He disclosed that the three teams have signed an open letter to the Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr. Tsang Tak-sing, in the hope of early discussion and discussion on increasing the subsidy from the current $600,000 per season to half of the class fee, in the case of Tai Po, that is, about $ 3 million. If there is still no reasonable funding next season, the three teams may apply for withdrawal from the league at the same time.