Young Hong Kong footballers lose to UK counterparts in fitness tests

Young footballers in Hong Kong are weaker, slower and less nimble than their British counterparts because a lack of space and not enough training hinder their development, a study has found.

The study by the Jockey Club and English Premier League club Manchester United on about 100 youth players aged 14 to 18 also found that the city's teenage footballers do not necessarily get fitter with age.

Researchers linked the surprising results to "inadequate training frequency" of youth footballers during the peak growth phases of puberty.

"It has to do with limited time and space … the Leisure and Cultural Services Department doesn't have enough pitches," said Chinese University sport scientist Hardaway Chan Chun-kwan, who led the Jockey Club's two-year Youth Football Fitness Assessment.

"Hong Kong footballers train less frequently than in the UK, where they may have more access to pitches and can train more times a week."

Hong Kong youths trained just 1.5 times a week on average compared to four times a week in Britain. Chan said local players only had time to play football during training sessions rather than work on fitness.

A one-year longitudinal comparison between teenage Hong Kong and British footballers of the same age found Hong Kong footballers performed less well in four standardised tests: explosiveness, speed, agility and endurance.