NO PROMISE OF CHANGE FROM F.A. CHAIRMAN

Eric Fok ‘open-minded’ but says views of clubs have to be respected amid national coach Andersen urging a more professional approach

The boss of the Hong Kong Football Association is openminded about reforming the game in the city after national team coach Jorn Andersen used the governing body’s annual meeting to blast the standard of domestic matches.

However, Andersen’s wish for an overhaul of the local Premier League is unlikely to be granted any time soon, with chairman Eric Fok Kai-shan saying he has to consider the conflicting interests of member clubs.

If Andersen was looking for strong leadership and unequivocal backing, as he deliberates over an offer to extend his contract, he did not find them in Fok’s comments following the annual meeting on Thursday.

The insufficient quality and intensity of the local league has had Andersen tearing his hair out since his appointment in December 2021.

Talking on stage at the meeting, Andersen made a series of withering comments about the level of the city’s top division.

Still dressed in his Hong Kong tracksuit top, with his luggage in a corner of the Paramount Banquet Hall at Kowloon Bay’s MegaBox following a 20-hour journey from Uzbekistan, Andersen’s words reflected his experience over the preceding week.

He had twice watched his team unable to match the speed, strength and endurance of Uzbekistan in World Cup qualifying games, with several players evidently well short of the formidable condition they attained during a month-long camp before January’s Asian Cup finals.

Andersen estimates roughly a fitness drop of around 20 to 30 per cent in some players.

Asked about the local Premier League in front of leading FA officials, Andersen said he repeatedly finds himself at matches asking, “Why have I come today?”

“It is so slow, the tempo is so low,” he said. “So many matches are not interesting, one team stays back, the other attacks. [If this continues] we cannot improve Hong Kong football.

“We need better and harder matches, with players fighting. I saw one great game, between Eastern and Lee Man [1-1 draw this month]. We need more of these matches, with fighting and high tempo. The step from the HKPL to my team is too big.”

Andersen, who led the city’s under-23s to the semi-finals of last year’s Asian Games, insists that Hong Kong boasts a crop of promising young players. “They are hard workers, with good mentalities,” he said.

“I try to push them, but it is not easy when they do not get playing time in their clubs, which is not always possible in Hong Kong. If they do not play matches, and do not train hard every day ... they cannot improve.”

Andersen, who previously said he wanted two local under-22 players, and a reduction in the six permitted foreigners, in every Premier League starting 11, also said he had heard negative stories about “young players outside the field, and what happens with teams outside the field”. “They are not professional enough,” he said.

The Norwegian’s words were still ringing in Fok’s ears when the chairman said: “I think we would have to communicate with the clubs [about implementing Andersen’s suggested changes]. “It is not an FA thing, it is a threeway thing.

“We are open-minded, we have to be. We listen to different stakeholders and reach a conclusion together. It is not option A or B. The end goal is, how do we develop Hong Kong football better and what is the best strategy?

“We very much respect the head coach’s input because he has very good experience, but we also respect the clubs’ views, because they are contributing to Hong Kong football long term.

“The HKFA is the platform, we welcome more input ... and have to work together to find a common goal, and develop that together.”

It is so slow, the tempo is so low. So many matches are not interesting HK HEAD COACH JORN ANDERSEN, ON THE STANDARD OF LOCAL PREMIER LEAGUE