On a steamy Tuesday night time in June, 42,570 Hongkongers packed right into a spectacular new harborside stadium positioned of their metropolis’s city coronary heart.
Built on the site of a former airport, the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Sports Park was accomplished this March – and has been the crucible of a resurgence in assist for the native team, the place a pink sea of followers now frequently cheers on the gamers.
Ranked 148th on the earth – simply between Ethiopia and the Solomon Islands – Hong Kong’s soccer team has by no means seen residence crowds of this measurement, with attendances even for essential qualifiers usually underneath 15,000.
But latest video games have pulled in audiences extra like these at top-tier worldwide matches.
“We never had this many fans watching the Hong Kong team,” mentioned Shinichi Chan, the 23-year-old rising star who is an everyday starter of the team. “The stadium is becoming our new home.”
Chester Cheung was among the many crowd on June 10, a day he gained’t neglect. That night time, Hong Kong defeated India 1-0 within the Asian Cup qualifiers – a sequence of matches deciding which groups go to the continent’s showpiece occasion in Saudi Arabia in 2027. For Cheung, a core member of a Hong Kong fan group, watching the team’s debut on the brand-new stadium was “a dream come true.”
“I cried,” mentioned the 29-year-old, who spent two to a few months getting ready for the sport together with his group Chisinlo, named after a Cantonese phrase that means “crazy people”.
Arriving three to 4 hours earlier than the sport, Cheung and his mates from the group ready flags, drums, megaphones, banners, and face-painting stickers. They additionally helped show an enormous tifo, which they’d a hand in designing.
The followers’ power set the stage for the gamers.
“Wearing the Hong Kong team jersey, walking out of the tunnel, and seeing all the fans supporting Hong Kong is such an unbelievable feeling,” recalled Chan, who performed midfielder on the recreation in opposition to India. “It is always going to be in my mind and push me ever harder to play better football.”
The momentum rolled into to the subsequent residence recreation, the place greater than 45,000 followers crammed the stands – a brand new document for the team – throughout a 1-1 draw in opposition to Bangladesh final month.
Cheung mentioned the team’s debut at Kai Tak was “a very good entry point” for individuals who had not watched a lot soccer earlier than, as many of them have been attracted by social media movies of that recreation and determined to offer the next video games a strive.
And on Tuesday, Hong Kong will face Singapore at its third residence recreation at Kai Tak, and tickets are already offered out.
The packed stands ought to come as little shock in a metropolis with a wealthy soccer custom going again to its time as a British colony.
Hong Kong’s first skilled league was established as early as 1908, one of the oldest in Asia. It flourished within the Nineteen Seventies and 80s, however since then has misplaced followers lured by globalized European leagues, particularly the English Premier League.
The team’s extra hardcore followers up to now have additionally been outspoken supporters of Hong Kong’s distinctive Cantonese id, tradition and language, one thing that has sometimes brought about political frictions with native authorities. Britain handed the Asian monetary hub again to China in 1997 underneath an settlement the place it is meant to maintain a stage of autonomy for 50 years.
In the years main as much as the huge and generally violent pro-democracy protests that swept Hong Kong in 2019, China’s nationwide anthem was frequently greeted with jeers and boos from supporters of the native team.
Hong Kong authorities have since made it illegal to indicate disrespect to the nationwide anthem, silencing the jeering within the stands as such public act of defiance may now result in fines and prolonged imprisonment.
In addition to serving as the house stadium for the town’s soccer team, the Kai Tak Sports Park is central to Hong Kong’s bid to reclaim its standing as Asia’s premier vacation spot for mega-events, after shedding out to rival cities like Singapore and Tokyo in attracting some of the world’s largest stars.
And the progress is already noticeable. Since April, the sprawling waterfront advanced has hosted performers from the rock band Coldplay to Asian pop stars JJ Lin and Jay Chou, in addition to main sport occasions together with Rugby Sevens and English soccer’s North London Derby.
But for Cheung, who has adopted the Hong Kong soccer team at totally different residence venues for 10 years, the perfect half about Kai Tak Sports Park is the air con – to not be sniffed at in a subtropical metropolis of swelteringly humid summers.
“So no matter the weather, no matter how hot it is, it is still very comfortable inside, ” he mentioned.
It’s not simply Hong Kong seeing giant fan-bases for groups which can be removed from the highest of worldwide rankings.
Soccer throughout Southeast Asia has been drawing larger crowds in recent times. Countries and areas are placing extra efforts into naturalizing international gamers and cultivating younger skills, which has helped enhance their competitiveness on the Asian stage.
The worldwide nature of Hong Kong is additionally mirrored within the team’s ethnic range.
It now blends a rising group of naturalized gamers, together with Brazil-born striker Everton Camargo and France-born winger Raphaël Merkies, with a core of native expertise thriving in mainland China’s top-tier league. Chan is amongst them, now in his second spectacular season with Shanghai Shenhua after serving to the highest Chinese membership raise final yr’s league title.
Both followers and gamers are prepared for the do-or-die recreation in opposition to Singapore Tuesday.
“I expect a great atmosphere, and every (fan) will spend 120% of their efforts in cheering and supporting the team,” mentioned Cheung, who will likely be within the stadium with the fan group. “We are telling the fans that this time is not for entertainment. It is a fight. It’s a war.”
For Chan and his teammates, victory is the one objective, with a spot in Saudi Arabia nonetheless up for grabs.
“Kai Tak is giving me this feeling that we are stepping forward together as Hong Kong football, with the better venue, to play and provide better experiences for the fans,” mentioned Chan. “And hopefully, we can create something great together.”