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Eastern banking on promise of youth as big spenders make Hong Kong Premier League a 2-horse race before season starts
- Head coach Roberto Losada says financial power of Kitchee and Lee Man makes title almost a foregone conclusion
- Hong Kong football needs to look beyond city’s borders to raise money and improve competitiveness of the domestic game
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Big spending Kitchee and Lee Man are in a Hong Kong Premier League of their own with the rest “fighting for third”, Eastern head coach Roberto Losada said on Thursday.
Speaking at an open training session in Tseung Kwan O, Losada described the competitiveness within the league as “not good enough”, but said that would not deter him from trying to get his side playing better football than last season.
The Spaniard also said he believed that Hong Kong needed to look across the border to mainland China, with the commercial opportunities that brings, if it wanted its top flight to grow and standard of football to improve.
Eastern finished fourth in the league last season and reached the final of the Senior Shield, where they lost 4-1 on penalties to Kitchee in a game they could have won.
“The squad that they have, and the money they spent, they have to fight for the Asian Champions League so that’s understandable,” Losada said.
“But the rest of us do not have these powers to get this kind of squad. I think Lee Man and Kitchee are fighting for the title probably, the rest of the teams will try to compete, improve, and try the best we can for sure.”
Kitchee will start their Champions League campaign in the group stages, while Lee Man and BC Rangers, who pipped Eastern to third, will have to qualify through play-offs.
With the treble winners expected to dominate domestically again, Losada, who was named coach of the year, said a repeat of the heavy 7-0 thrashings Kitchee handed out to some teams last season “doesn’t say much about our Premier League in Hong Kong”.
The Spaniard said he would love to see a situation where other teams in the league could compete off the field as well as on it, but admitted that would require “a better football market” for that to happen.
“I am not asking the big teams to lower their budget because they are entitled to [spend big],” Losada said. “Many things have to change and it’s not in our hands as there are many factors involved.
“In other leagues, the clubs have profits, be it from merchandise or television, here all the teams lose money. If the clubs have profit, more people get involved.”
Losada also believed playing in the domestic set-up in China would help Hong Kong football attracted more sponsorship.
“It’s not about the players, it’s about the money,” he said. “With more money, we can make better teams, and by playing against competitive teams on a regular basis, we can become better.”
The team’s financial realities mean it focuses on developing young players, but it is a plan they hope will pay dividends in the year’s to come.
“What we are trying to do is to emulate Brighton & Hove Albion of the English Premier League,” Frankie Yau, Eastern Sports Club vice-president, said. “We focus on using scientific data to train and pick our players, every dollar we spent has to be value for money.
“We need to figure out our way to survive, and although we did not have any titles over the last two seasons, we are still happy with the results and believe we’re on the right track.”
Eastern have been able to keep some of their key players, including captain and goalkeeper Yapp Hung-fai, as well as striker Sun Ming-him, who finished with 14 goals in all competitions last season. They have also added midfielder Yu Joy-yin, who last played for Rangers.
Big spending Kitchee and Lee Man are in a Hong Kong Premier League of their own with the rest “fighting for third”, Eastern head coach Roberto Losada said on Thursday.
Speaking at an open training session in Tseung Kwan O, Losada described the competitiveness within the league as “not good enough”, but said that would not deter him from trying to get his side playing better football than last season.
The Spaniard also said he believed that Hong Kong needed to look across the border to mainland China, with the commercial opportunities that brings, if it wanted its top flight to grow and standard of football to improve.
Eastern finished fourth in the league last season and reached the final of the Senior Shield, where they lost 4-1 on penalties to Kitchee in a game they could have won.
“The squad that they have, and the money they spent, they have to fight for the Asian Champions League so that’s understandable,” Losada said.
“But the rest of us do not have these powers to get this kind of squad. I think Lee Man and Kitchee are fighting for the title probably, the rest of the teams will try to compete, improve, and try the best we can for sure.”
Kitchee will start their Champions League campaign in the group stages, while Lee Man and BC Rangers, who pipped Eastern to third, will have to qualify through play-offs.
With the treble winners expected to dominate domestically again, Losada, who was named coach of the year, said a repeat of the heavy 7-0 thrashings Kitchee handed out to some teams last season “doesn’t say much about our Premier League in Hong Kong”.
The Spaniard said he would love to see a situation where other teams in the league could compete off the field as well as on it, but admitted that would require “a better football market” for that to happen.
“I am not asking the big teams to lower their budget because they are entitled to [spend big],” Losada said. “Many things have to change and it’s not in our hands as there are many factors involved.
“In other leagues, the clubs have profits, be it from merchandise or television, here all the teams lose money. If the clubs have profit, more people get involved.”
Losada also believed playing in the domestic set-up in China would help Hong Kong football attracted more sponsorship.
“It’s not about the players, it’s about the money,” he said. “With more money, we can make better teams, and by playing against competitive teams on a regular basis, we can become better.”
The team’s financial realities mean it focuses on developing young players, but it is a plan they hope will pay dividends in the year’s to come.
“What we are trying to do is to emulate Brighton & Hove Albion of the English Premier League,” Frankie Yau, Eastern Sports Club vice-president, said. “We focus on using scientific data to train and pick our players, every dollar we spent has to be value for money.
“We need to figure out our way to survive, and although we did not have any titles over the last two seasons, we are still happy with the results and believe we’re on the right track.”
Eastern have been able to keep some of their key players, including captain and goalkeeper Yapp Hung-fai, as well as striker Sun Ming-him, who finished with 14 goals in all competitions last season. They have also added midfielder Yu Joy-yin, who last played for Rangers.