The Hong Kong team have arrived in Austria ahead of Thursday’s tilt against Liechtenstein. Players have been climbing mountains and fording streams – metaphorically – as they race to learn head coach Ashley Westwood’s tactics ahead of the game.
The hills are alive, and Hong Kong have arrived ahead of Thursday night’s match against Liechtenstein.
After leaving at midnight Hong Kong time on Monday, the team landed 13 hours later in Zurich at 7:00 local time, before boarding a 1.5-hour bus ride to the team’s hotel in Dornbirn, Austria. With a population of 51,222, the city is the tenth largest in Austria, about one-tenth the size of Eastern District, and 35 minutes away from Rheinpark Stadion in Vaduz, where Thursday’s match will be played.
Far from the oppressive heat and humidity of Hong Kong, the players have found themselves adapting to a drastically different climate in Central Europe. The temperature has been below 20 degrees over the past two days in Dornbirn and rain is expected in the forecast for Thursday night in Vaduz.
“There air here is very clean, the mountains and waters are very calming, and the temperature is also comfortable,” remarked defender Yue Tze-nam. “It’s easy to breathe, so we had a good training session today. We need to adapt quickly to the surroundings and weather here. Although the differences aren’t big, the surroundings have made me feel a bit brighter.”
The trip to European is just the latest leg in a whirlwind year for Hong Kong which has seen the team travel to the Middle East, Central Asia, and Oceania.
Although the trip will a difficult one to make for fans based in Hong Kong, it is a boon for those Hong Kongers who have emigrated to Europe. Word on the street is that a travelling contingent of 250 to 300 fans are expected at the match.
This trip to Europe is historic as it is the team’s first ever trip to Europe and a rare chance to face a non-Asian opponent. Prior to the team’s trip to Fiji last month, Hong Kong had not played a non-Asian opponent since 2006. It had not played a match outside of the AFC since playing a pair of non-official friendlies against AC Milan and Canada in Toronto in 1992.

Prior to the Fiji trip, Hong Kong’s last match outside of the AFC was against Canada in 1992. (Credit: Canadian Soccer Association)
It will be a unique learning experience for the side to measure itself against the former Germanic kingdom, who will play a different brand of football than one that Hong Kong will be accustomed to. Against Fiji, Hong Kong struggled with their counterparts’ pace and physicality. They were hard pressed to create time and space against the Fijians, and were only able to unlock their defence through some quick thinking by Wong Wai, Juninho and Matt Orr.
Wong will miss out on the trip to Liechtenstein due to injury, and Hong Kong will sorely miss his experience and leadership. He was not named in the October squad, which has undergone several revisions since the list was released last week.
Three players – Lam Hin-ting, Everton Camargo, and Tan Chun-lok – have all withdrawn due to injury while a fourth – Yu Wai-lim – was named as Tan’s replacement, but withdrew on Saturday. They have been replaced by Ngan Lok-fung, Stefan Pereira and Dudu, the later of whom is a debutant and has not played for his club since February.
There was controversy of the possible selection of Leung Nok-hang. The centreback, who has not featured for Hong Kong since November 2023, was not selected into the original squad. After Yue Wai-lim notified new head coach, Ashey Westwood, that he had been injured, the coach reached out to Leung on Sunday morning. But, Leung responded that though he was in Hong Kong, his passport was not, and he could not retrieve it in time to travel.
The loss of Everton – the team’s most formidable attacking threat – will be another blow for Westwood as he looks to impart his tactics onto the side. The Englishman has told his players that he wants them build out from the back and retain possession as best as possible, a radical departure from previous coach Jörn Andersen, who asked his players to be more direct.
“So far, it’s been a lot of new information from the coaches so it’s been a lot of learning from me and the rest of the guys,” said defender Leon Jones. “I’m sure with more and more sessions, we’ll start to get the ideas of the coach.”
It’s been rumoured that Westwood will try a new formation on top of his tactics as he tries to solve Hong Kong’s issues with transitioning from defence to attack.

Westwood wants to the transform the side into one that tries to control the game through possession. (Credit: HKFA)
There have been questions in the lead up as to whether it would be worth it for Hong Kong to play this match – one where they would be the underdogs and one where they would only pick up a modicum of ranking points should be they be victorious.
Those opposed should consider the fact that every footballer in Hong Kong, if they have professional dreams at all, has dreamed of playing in Europe. The reality is that very few Hong Kong players will ever experience club football in Europe, whether at the first team or youth level. For the majority of this Hong Kong squad, this will the only opportunity of their careers to play in Europe.
Whilst there will be challenges, from the quality of the host side to the inevitable jet lag, nevertheless, this opportunity is one that Hong Kong simply could not afford to miss. It is absolutely worth the HKFA’s effort to climb every mountain and ford every stream to make this game happen, if not as inspiration for the younger players, then as a reward to long-standing players on this squad who have previously travelled to less exciting destinations within Asia for Hong Kong team duty.
Given how long it has taken for Hong Kong to play in Europe, any player who missed the match without a valid reason or does not rise to the occasion on Thursday night is one that Westwood cannot count on when real games begin.
Broadcast info
The match will be streamed for free on on.cc.
