Hong Kong First Division League Totally Explained

Everything about Hong Kong First Division League totally explained

Hong Kong First Division League (}}, officially known as HKFA Coolpoint Ventilation First Division League for sponsorship reasons) is the top division football league in Hong Kong established in 1908.
It doesn't affiliate to any football leagues in the People's Republic of China, such as Chinese Super League and Jia League.

League rules

Each team plays the other teams twice, one home and one away game. The ticket profits go to the home team. If there are two matches in the same stadium on the day, the profits are shared between the two home teams.
Since most of the teams don't have a home ground, the games are mostly played in Hong Kong Stadium or Mongkok Stadium. It happens that one team plays their home games in both stadiums in the same season.
The bottom two teams are relegated to the Hong Kong Second Division League.
Each season, HKFA would decide the maximum number of foreign and mainland Chinese players each club can have and how many can play in each game.

Exceptions

There were two teams, The Army and The Police, that are not required to relegate. The league explained soldiers in The Army team were frequently redeployed to another country and very difficult to establish teamwork. The Police team didn't need to relegate as they supply the venue Police Sports and Recreation Club for the league.
Another relegate exception was made to South China Athletic Association during the 2006/07 season. The Hong Kong Football Association approved a request from South China to remain in the first division June 14, 2006. The reason for exception wasn't disclosed. The public believed that this move was allowed due to the fact that South China has a long history in the First Division League and it would otherwise be humiliating for the club to relegate to Second Division League. Another reason is that other football clubs rely the attendance for South China's fans to the game to generate revenues. Relegation would result in a lose-lose situation for both sides.

Stadiums

As Hong Kong is a small place, most clubs don't have space to build home stadiums. Even if they've their own training ground (as in the case of South China), the league matches are played elsewhere. The First Division League games are usually played in Hong Kong Stadium or Mong Kok Stadium.
List of stadiums used in seasson 2007–08:

Mong Kok Stadium

Hong Kong Stadium

Dongguan Stadium

Competing clubs

2007–08 season

The following 10 clubs are competing in the Hong Kong First Division League during the 2007–08 season.

Club	Position in 2006–07	First season in top division	Last title
Bulova Rangers	4th	1965–66	1970–71
Citizen	8th	2004–05	n/a
Convoy Sun Hei	3rd	1994–95	2004–05
Eastern	10th, Second Division	1936–37	1994–95
Happy Valley	6th	1959–60	2005–06
Kitchee	2nd	1947–48	1963–64
Lanwa Redbull	5th	2005–06	n/a
South China	1st	1918–19	2006–07
Wofoo Tai Po	7th	2006–07	n/a
Workable	2nd, Second Division	2007–08	n/a

Records

Unbeaten teams

References:
In the record of the First Division League since 1945 (ie. after WWII, when HKFA has held a complete record of the competition), there are 4 teams which had remained unbeaten throughout the whole season.

South China (1977-78, 1985-86) 1977-78 There were 12 teams in the First Division League. South China finished as the Champion for the season with a magnificent result of 20 wins, 2 draws and 0 losses. South China became the first ever team in the League to go unbeaten in a season. The only two drawn matches were against Eastern and Tung Sing.
1985-86 was a season with 2 unbeaten teams in the league. Both South China and Happy Valley topped the league with 10 wins and 8 draws. Goal difference was used to decide the champion and South China won the trophy by +21 against +16. South China became the first team to hold a record of 2 unbeaten seasons.

Seiko (1978-79) 1978-79 In the season immediately after South China becoming the first unbeaten team, Seiko became the second team which achieved this result. With a slightly poorer result (19 wins and 3 draws) compared to the previous year's South China, Seiko still became the Champion of the season. The draw matches were against Kui Tan, Eastern and Caroline Hill. A more marvellous result for Seiko was that it won 5 out of the 6 competitions that season. The only trophy it failed to get was FA Cup, losing to Yuen Long by penalty kicks.

Happy Valley (1985-86, 2002-03#) 1985-86 Happy Valley was unbeaten in the season, same as South China (10 wins and 8 draws). However, Happy Valley just claimed the Runners-up because a worse goal difference. It became the first unbeaten team which couldn't gain the title for the season.
2002-03# Actually Happy Valley wasn't unbeaten in this season according to the league tacble. The 'losing' match was against Fukien. In that match, Happy Valley was originally the winning team. However, it was later discovered that a player who wasn't in the player list was playing in the match. Happy Valley was penalized by losing 0-3.

Sun Hei (2002-03) 2002-03 Sun Hei became the fourth unbeaten team in the league history. However, with one point behind Happy Valley, it was just able to get a Runner-up prize.

Top goal scorers

References:

Ho Cheung Yau (Largest number of goals) � Season: 1957–58

Number of goals: 40 � Team: South China

Dale Tempest (Most Times winning for Top Goal Scorer prize) Winning Seasons:1989-90, 1990-91, 1992-93, 1993-94, 1994-95
Total goals: more than 100
Played Teams: Eastern, South China

Yuen Kuen To (4 times Top Goal Scorer Runner-up) Runner-up seasons: 1967-68, 1968-69, 1971-72, 1972-73

Goalkeeper records

References:

Ian Hesford (Longest Clean Sheets) Record: 827 min
Season: 1992-93
He assisted Eastern to maintain a record of 0 conceded and 9 straight wins in the first 9 matches of 1992-93 season. His record ended when they played the second round match against South China at the 17th minute. The goalscorer was Loh Wai Chi.

Opening matches

References:

First Opening Match with last year's Champion vs Runner-up (1988-89) South China 2:2(6:7 pen) Happy Valley

Biggest Goal Difference (1992-93) Eastern 5:0 South China

Highest Scoring Game (1997-98) Instant-Dict 5:4 South China

First Unrecognized Game (1998-99) Instant-Dict 2:2 South China (original score)
As there was a suspended player played in Instant-Dict's squad, the team was penalized by losing 0-3.

Highest disclosed transfer fee records

Rank	Year	Player	Position	Transfer from	Transfer to	Transfer fee
1	2007	Chan Wai Ho (陳偉豪)	defender	Rangers	South China	HKD$400,000
2	1996	Cheng Siu Chung Ricky (鄭兆聰)	midfielder	LD Alajuelense	South China	USD$30,000 (about HKD$234,000)
3	1992	Tam Ar Fuk (譚亞福)	midfielder	Happy Valley	Ernest Borel	HKD$140,000
4	1972	Fok Pak Ning (霍柏寧)	defender	Sing Tao	Seiko	HKD$5,000
5	1972	Au Wing Hung (區永鴻)	defender	Sing Tao	Seiko	HKD$3,000

Champions

Team	Champions			Winning seasons
Team	Overall	Before WWII	After WWII	Winning seasons
South China	38	9	29	1923–24, 1930–31, 1932–33, 1934–35, 1935–36, 1937–38, 1938–39, 1939–40, 1940–41, 1948–49, 1950–51, 1951–52, 1952–53, 1954–55, 1956–57, 1957–58, 1958–59, 1959–60, 1960–61, 1961–62, 1965–66, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1971–72, 1973–74, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1977–78, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1989–90, 1990–91, 1991–92, 1996–97, 1999–00, 2006–07, 2007–08
Seiko	9	–	9	1972–73, 1974–75, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1980–81, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1984–85
Happy Valley	6	–	6	1964–65, 1988–89, 1998–99, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2005–06
R.G.A.	5	5	0	1909–10, 1912–13, 1914–15, 1915–16, 1917–18
Eastern	4	0	4	1955–56, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95
C.A.A.	3	3	0	1927–28, 1928–29, 1929–30
Kitchee	3	0	3	1947–48, 1949–50, 1963–64
Sun Hei	3	–	3	2001–02, 2002–03, 2003–04
Buffs	2	2	0	1908–09, 1910–11
King's Own Rifiles	2	2	–	1911–12, 1922–23
South Welsh Borderers	2	2	–	1931–32, 1933–34
K.M.B.	2	–	2	1953–54, 1966–67
Double Flower (Instant-Dict)	2	–	2	1995–96, 1997–98
D.C.L.I.	1	1	–	1913–14
Royal Engineers	1	1	0	1916–17
Royal Navy	1	1	0	1918–19
HKFC	1	1	0	1919–20
Wiltshire Regiment	1	1	–	1920–21
HMS Curiew	1	1	–	1921–22
East Surrey Regt.	1	1	–	1924–25
Kowloon FC	1	1	–	1925–26
Recreio	1	1	–	1926–27
Ulster Guards	1	1	–	1936–37
Royal Air Force	1	0	1	1945–46
Sing Tao	1	0	1	1946–47
Yuen Long	1	–	1	1962–63
Jardines	1	–	1	1969–70
Rangers	1	–	1	1970–71

Further Information

Get more info on 'Hong Kong First Division League'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://hong_kong_first_division_league.totallyexplained.com">Hong Kong First Division League Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.