In a friendly game in Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong beat China in football, for the first time in 29 years on 1st January 2024. This was a historic moment for Hong Kong as they swept their arch-rivals, China, under the carpet after a pretty long time.
The final scoreline of the game was 2-1 in favour of Hong Kong as they displayed incredible grit, determination and resilience in this match. Hong Kong are gearing up to play in the AFC Asian Cup for the first time since 1968 and would be hoping to play exceedingly well in the remaining friendly encounters with other countries.
Notably, the AFC Asian Cup is all set to take place from 12th January 2024 to 10th February 2024 in Qatar. We can expect some rollicking action and some high-end action to take place for this tournament.
Hong Kong are slotted in Group C of this tournament and have Iran, UAE and Palestine as their opponents in the group-stage. They would be hoping to play well and progress to the next round of this tournament.
Series of problems between these two teams
Hong Kong is a “special administrative region” of China and was passed on from the British in 1997. As per the agreement, Hong Kong can play sports as a separate team and can be pitted against China as well.
In the past, when the Hong Kong fans booed the Chinese national anthem during a Hong Kong vs China match in 2015, the Hong Kong Football Association was fined HKD $40,000.
The association is now known as the Football Association of Hong Kong, China and governs the footballing laws of these two teams.
Hong Kong fans have always booed the Chinese team and the anthem and have time and again, sung the Glory to Hong Kong anthem, which was the official anthem during the 2019-2020 protests.
India to play AFC Asian Cup
Led by talismanic skipper, Sunil Chhetri, and revolutionary coach of India, Igor Stimac, India would be confident ahead of their AFC Asian Cup 2023 campaign in Qatar. They have been placed in Group B alongside Syria, Australia and Uzbekistan.
India cross swords with Australia on 13th January 2024 at the Ahmed bin Ali Stadium in Qatar. The match is slated to begin from 5:00 PM (IST).
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