Although there is such a large population in Hong Kong in comparison to its size, the region has struggled to become a prominent force in Asian football.
The men’s representative team has never qualified for a World Cup.
Hong Kong’s women’s representative team has never qualified for a World Cup or an Olympics.
Considering Danielle Vos’ recent success in helping Kitchee secure a league title and qualifying for the first-ever AFC Women’s Champions League, there is nonetheless an unprecedented level of new excitement surrounding the women’s game.
Vos is currently working at Asia Football Group, the commercial agency of the Asian Football Confederation, in a full time obligation, while playing as a center-back for Kichee’s women’s team in the Hong Kong Women’s League. Her paramount goal is to help grow the game on the continent and in Hong Kong.
She had a substantial adjustment after moving to the region from the suburbs in multiple countries where she grew up.
“This is my first kind of big city experience,” Vos says. “The amount of people, everywhere, all the time, the density, it’s Hong Kong. It was crazy to adjust to it. The busyness, so many people in your face all the time.”
Vos has been getting acclimated to the culture through her teammates, a majority of whom are from Hong Kong.

“After training they’ll take me to some local places nearby where the menu is not even in English,” Vos says. “And, they just order for me. Just translate for me and be there to support me through it. They definitely helped me a lot to immerse myself in the local culture. Our coach will typically speak Cantonese during training. I’ve got some teammates who are pretty fluent in English and they’ll stand next to me and translate.”

The bond is strengthening amongst the team. Vos described the environment as “the best” group of girls she has played with, and at the beginning of Kitchee’s women’s season, she and her teammates set their hopes on making history.
Vos aimed to represent Hong Kong alongside her Kitchee teammates in the first ever AFC Women’s Champions League.
“This has definitely been a goal for us all season,” Vos says. “Since the beginning of the season we have said we want this.
“How cool would it’d be to represent Hong Kong in the first ever women’s Champions League?”
In August 2024, the first full-fledged AFC Women’s Champions League will commence. The Hong Kong Women’s First Division had one indirect spot to qualify for the competition. After winning the league title, the club will qualify for a preliminary tournament to contend for a spot in the group stage.

There are signs of significant progress in football’s growth in Asia and Hong Kong, specifically. Asia did not have any continental women’s club competitions until 2019, and it was only twelve years ago Hong Kong created its first structured Women’s League.
Kitchee sat in 2nd place of the ‘championship group’ in the Women’s League with 43 points on their final matchday. Their last match of the season was played against Chelsea on June 22nd, who held 44 points.
The club’s first loss of the season on May 11th added even more intrigue surrounding their aspirations of winning a league title.
“I think I have been really amazed with how we responded,” Vos says. “Our coach the day after the loss put us together in a room and put us in a circle with chairs. And, we just talked. And, we asked why did this happen. And, you could see everyone was pissed off which was a good sign after we lost. We just regrouped and came back from that and had two wins back-to-back.”
A league title decided on the last day of the season is compelling. Kitchee’s final encounter was played on a public park next to temporary housing, Shek Kip Mei Park. Kitchee’s women’s team have never played at Mong Kok Stadium, the club’s home stadium. Mong Kok Stadium seats 6,664 fans. Shek Kip Mei Park has a capacity of 1,446 people.
Kitchee’s women’s team is able to use all of the men’s facilities except the stadium, which does not belong to the club.
“We use the same training ground,” Vos says. “We use the same training room, gym, and locker room. We are very, very lucky. None of the other women’s teams have that. I think we are also the only semi-professional team. The rest are still considered amateur. We do get paid. It’s nowhere near a livable salary, but we do get paid an allowance.”
Many of the teams in the league don’t own training facilities.
Instead, most are left to use public fields, so sessions can be scheduled at odd times. There is limited space to create facilities in such a densely packed region.
“There is just no space,” Vos says. “There is no space to make these amazing training facilities. If they want to make them, I don’t know where they would put them.”
But also organizational and structural issues are common occurrences on matchdays. The public parks booked through the Hong Kong FA for matches lack some of the basic necessities for players.
All of these pitches are turf or artificial ground surfaces. Playing conditions are often challenging for players in the league.
“We just play on publicly owned fields that the FA books out for us. It’s all turf. We don’t play on any grass which is horrid as a center-back.”
On the pitch, problems are prevalent.
“Even in a game, there is no separation between players and the fans,” Vos says. “We don’t have locker rooms. You just kind of show up at the field and play your game. We don’t even have fourth officials. Anytime a sub needs to be made, the game dies for five minutes while one of the line refs has to come check in the player.”
Vos feels this level of flagrant disorganization and lack of attention to detail can be characterized as “unprofessional.”
From a purely footballing standpoint, Vos has noticed development in her abilities. There are positives to take away from her experience playing in the league.
What is the play style from different clubs in the league? How is football being taught around domestic clubs in the region?
“We [Kitchee] like to play out the back,” Vos says. “On a goal kick, the goalkeeper will play it to either me or another center back. We like to build out of the back. Long balls are not really our style of play. Our style of play is more using wide areas or playing down the wings. If you look at where the majority of our goals come from, it’s down the wing. I think a lot of our goals come off set pieces. Our team is quite lucky we have some physically taller players.
“If I were to compare the playing style here to other countries, this is the least physical I’ve seen the game played. It’s much more technical, a lot more combinations, physicality is not part of the game here.”
Perhaps the most prominent player to ever play for Hong Kong women’s representative team is Cheung Wai Ki. She joined Kitchee during the 2022/23 season. Vos currently plays alongside Cheung. In the 14 appearances she has made in the league this season, she scored 20 goals.
Cheung Wai Ki’s goal return is dominant and she is the leading goalscorer of the league at 33 years old. She grew up playing futsal and developed a high level of technical ability through playing in tight spaces.

But Hong Kong’s hopes to develop more stars like her could be impeded by issues with infrastructure, and possibly cultural ideologies.
“The talent pool is smaller than other countries simply because of the population,” Vos says. “I think sport here is not encouraged as much as in other countries. For many families it is such a competitive culture within education that they don’t give their kids the time to play sports.
“I do think that the talent is more on the national level rather than the club level. A lot of these girls who play on very high level national teams will play club football in Europe. They don’t stick around and play club football in Asia. I think UEFA is much more advanced than AFC. AFC does realize this. I think it’s going in the right direction, just behind [UEFA]. I think this is part of the reason for motivating the new Champions League this year.”
The continent is hoping for new emerging stars to boost the development of football.
“If we talk about Asia specifically, I think you can’t ignore women’s football here,” Vos says. “We have Australia, we have Korea, we have China, all in the AFC. Those are strong sides, they go to the World Cup and they perform. There is definitely talent here.”

Vos is taking the first pioneering step in helping to grow the game through representing a Hong Kong club for the very first time in the first ever AFC Women’s Champions League.
