The 2021–22 Hong Kong Premier League (also known as the BOC Life Hong Kong Premier League for sponsorship reasons) was an abandoned season of the Hong Kong Premier League, the top division of Hong Kong football.
Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic On 5 January 2022, the Hong Kong government announced a tightening of social distancing measures between 7 January to 20 January in order to control the Omicron outbreak. Public recreation facilities, such as football pitches, were closed and members of the public were barred from gathering in groups of more than two, making it impossible for the season to continue. The Hong Kong Football Association announced on the same day that it would also postpone any scheduled matches in the successive two week period.
After the measures were extended several times in the following weeks, the government announced on 22 February that it would extend the measures until 20 April, making it nearly impossible to complete the season before most player contracts expired on 31 May. The HKFA held an emergency meeting with the clubs on 25 February, after which it was determined that the remainder of the season would be cancelled.
Teams A total of 8 teams contest the league, including six teams from the 2020–21 Hong Kong Premier League, one team promoted from the 2020–21 Hong Kong First Division and one newly established team. Pegasus and Happy Valley decided to self-relegate to amateur leagues due to lack of funds.
ClubFoundedPositionLast Season Kitchee 1931 1st Eastern 1932 2nd Lee Man 2017 3rd Southern 2002 5thRangers 1958 6thResources Capital 1982 7thHKFC 1886 1st in First Division HK U23 2021 N/A Pink denotes a newly promoted/established club entering the league this year.
Stadia and locations
Primary venues used in the Hong Kong Premier League:
KitcheeEastern Rangers Lee Man Mong Kok Stadium Sham Shui Po Sports Ground Tseung Kwan O Sports Ground Capacity: 6,664 Capacity: 2,194 Capacity: 3,500 HK U23 Resources Capital HKFC Southern Tsing Yi Sports Ground HKFC Stadium Aberdeen Sports Ground Capacity: 1,500 Capacity: 2,750 Capacity: 4,000
Personnel and kits Team Chairman Head coach Captain Kit manufacturer Main sponsorEasternLam Kin Ming Roberto Losada Leung Chun PongAdidasUpbest GroupKitcheeKen Ng Chu Chi Kwong Huang YangNikeEDPS Systems Ltd.Lee ManNorman Lee Chan Hiu Ming Fernando RecioAdidasLee & Man ChemicalRangersPeter Mok Chiu Chung Man Wong Chin Hung Lai Ka Fai Lam Ka WaiUcanBiu Chun Watch Hands & Parts Manufacturers Ltd.SouthernMatthew Wong Zesh Rehman Shu SasakiMacronIsuzuResources CapitalHanson Wong Joan Esteva Cheng King HoFuture Hong Kong Football Development Charity LimitedHKFCTony Sealy Tony Hamilton-Bram Freek SchipperAdidasThe Executive CentreHK U23Eric Fok Cheung Kin Fung Wong WaiLottoKey Connect
Managerial changes TeamOutgoing managerManner of departureDate of vacancyPosition in tableIncoming managerDate of appointmentKitchee Chu Chi Kwong Change of Role 2 August 2021 Pre-season Kim Dong-jin 2 August 2021Kitchee Kim Dong-jin Change of Role 3 March 2022 2nd Chu Chi Kwong 3 March 2022
Foreign players The number of foreign players is restricted to six per team, with no more than five on the pitch during matches, the fifth player must be a marquee player.
According to the decision made by Hong Kong Football Association Board of Directors on 15 July 2020, the marquee player must fulfil one of the following criteria:
i) played for a club which is in a world's top professional league of one of the top 50 associations in the FIFA ranking published by FIFA on 11 June 2020 for at least 1 season or ii) fielded by his association in an international match, which his association is one of the top 50 associations in the FIFA ranking published by FIFA on 11 June 2020.
Marquee Player
Club Player 1 Player 2 Player 3 Player 4 Player 5 Player 6 Former/Unregistered PlayersEastern Marcos Gondra Mikael Tamirlan Kozubayev Víctor Bertomeu Everton Eduardo Praes Toni DovaleKitchee Dejan Damjanović Park Jun-heong Raúl Baena Manuel Gavilán Cleiton Charlie Scott Ruslan MingazowLee Man Jonathan Acosta Junior Dutra Gil Kim Seung-yong José Ángel Manolo BledaSouthern Stefan Pereira Zesh Rehman Dudu Luciano Kota Kawase Shu Sasaki Rangers Leandro Bazán Oleksii Shliakotin Juninho Ryota Hayashi Kim Min-kyuResources Capital Albert Canal Felipe Sá Jordon Brown Joan Esteva Diego Peláez
There are no restrictions on the number of foreign players HKFC can register. However, the team must have at least nine Hong Kong players in the squad, with no less than three on the pitch during matches. Club HK Player 1 HK Player 2 HK Player 3 HK Player 4 HK Player 5 HK Player 6 HK Player 7 HK Player 8 HK Player 9HKFC Stephen Liu Robert Bacon Matthew Hoare Ghislain Bell Bell Chan Wai Hin Tristan Cheung Christopher Chung Noa Fjelddahl Brian Fok HK Player 10 HK Player 11 HK Player 12 HK Player 13 HK Player 14 HK Player 15 HK Player 16 HK Player 17 HK Player 18 Oliver Laxton Liu Sui Man Poon Ka Ming Hardikpreet Singh To Chun Kiu Lucas Yan Yue Yixing Freek Schipper Robert Scott
HK U23 is not allowed to register any foreign players. Meanwhile, the number of overaged players is restricted to five for the team, with no more than three on the pitch during matches. The rest of the players must meet the registration status of U23 local players. Club Overaged Player 1 Overaged Player 2 Overaged Player 3 Overaged Player 4 Overaged Player 5 HK U23 Chan Ching Him Kwok Tsz Kaai Law Hiu Chung Wong Ho Yin Wong Wai
League table
Results
Positions by round To preserve chronological evolvements, any postponed matches are not included to the round at which they were originally scheduled, but added to the full round they were played immediately afterwards. For example, if a match is scheduled for round 7, but then played between rounds 8 and 9, it will be added to the standings for round 8.
Fixtures and results
Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Season statistics Top scorers
RankPlayerClubGoals1 Stefan PereiraSouthern7 Leandro BazánRangers2 Dejan DamjanovićKitchee43 Chang Hei YinLee Man34 JuninhoRangers2 Víctor BertomeuEastern Wong WaiHK U23 Raúl BaenaKitchee Chan Siu KwanKitchee TomasKitchee Júnior DutraLee Man
Hat-tricks Note: The results column shows the scorer's team score first. Teams in bold are home teams. #PlayerForAgainstResultDateRef1 Stefan PereiraSouthernHKFC3–02 Dejan DamjanovićKitcheeHK U236–03 Stefan PereiraSouthernHK U234–14 Leandro BazánRangersHKFC3–2
Clean sheets Rank Player Club Match(es)1 Ng Wai Him Southern32 Paulo César Kitchee1 Wang Zhenpeng Kitchee Yapp Hung Fai Eastern Chan Ka Ho Lee Man Yuen Ho Chun Lee Man
Attendances
Remarks
References