Hong Kong have beaten China for the first time in 29 years in a friendly football match in Abu Dhabi.
Hong Kong’s 2-1 victory over China comes as the former British colony prepares to participate in the Asian Cup for the first time since 1968, when the territory was still under British rule.
Hong Kong was passed over from British to Chinese rule in 1997 and is now a “special administrative region” of the People’s Republic of China. But under the terms of the handover agreement, the territory is permitted to compete in international sports competitions separately from China under the name “Hong Kong, China”.
Monday’s match was an official Fifa fixture before the AFC Asian Cup, which will be held in Qatar from 12 January to 10 February.
The game took place behind closed doors, reportedly to limit publicity.
Speaking after the match, Hong Kong’s manager, Jørn Andersen, praised the players’ aggression and said: “I don’t have to motivate the team against China,” according to the South China Morning Post.
In the past decade, Hong Kong’s relationship with Beijing has become increasingly strained, with mass protest movements in 2014 and 2019-2020 bringing millions of Hongkongers to the streets to protest against Beijing’s tightening rule. Sporting fixtures have occasionally become forums for airing political grievances.
In 2015, the Hong Kong Football Association (now known as the Football Association of Hong Kong, China) was fined HKD$40,000 after Hong Kong fans booed the Chinese national anthem at a Hong Kong-China match in Qatar. March of the Volunteers has also been the Hong Kong national anthem since 1997, and in 2020, Hong Kong passed a law banning insults to the song.
In recent years, Hong Kong sports fans have sung Glory to Hong Kong, the unofficial anthem of the 2019-2020 protests, instead of the official Chinese anthem.
In 2022, Glory to Hong Kong was played at a rugby match between Hong Kong and South Korea at the Asia Rugby Sevens Series in Incheon, with organisers blaming human error for the mix-up. The incident provoked strong criticism from the Hong Kong authorities, who launched a police investigation.
Hong Kong is trying to ban Glory to Hong Kong altogether, although so far the courts have blocked the government’s efforts.
Last year, Hong Kong’s sports associations were ordered to include “China” in their names, or risk losing funding or the right to represent the city internationally. At the time of the directive from the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China, in January 2023, fewer than 20 of the 83 clubs on the committee’s website had China in their name, according to AFP. The majority, including the football association, have since complied.
