Men’s football head coach Jorn Andersen is heading to Thailand as he readies to name his first Hong Kong squad for the 2023 Asian Cup qualifying tournament. Football Association chairman Pui Kwan-kay said Andersen, who was appointed in December to succeed Mixu Paatelainen, has been sent to Bangkok to check out the players’ condition from two domestic heavyweights, Kitchee and Lee Man. The two Premier League clubs were forced to train overseas in preparation for their respective AFC Asian Champions League group stage and AFC Cup playoffs for the main round, after the SAR government closed sports facilities in January because of social distancing measures. “He needs to find out more about his players as both Kitchee and Lee Man are training overseas to prepare for the regional cup competitions,” Pui said. “The two teams account for many key players of the Hong Kong team, along with Eastern Long Lions and therefore it is important to know their players’ condition.” On Monday, the association sent out a list of 24 players as part of the training squad for the Asian Cup qualifiers and the Hangzhou Asian Games after the government reopened facilities for teams preparing for Asian tournaments. But the squad was without players from the three top sides and most of the squad members are for the under-23 side which will feature in the Asian Games in September. Kitchee take training camp to Thailand ahead of ACL group stage “The Tseung Kwan O training centre is now open and therefore we can ask the players who are in Hong Kong to start training first before the manager names his full squad,” said Pui. Kitchee will kick off their Champions League campaign on April 16 before completing the group stage on May 1, but their players still need to go through a seven-day hotel quarantine after returning to Hong Kong. Lee Man will play against Mongolia side Athletic 220 on April 19 and manager Chan Hiu-ming had already said they would return to Hong Kong after the match. The group stage will not start until late June. The training squad is headed by Kwoon Chung Southern forward James Ha and midfield skipper Wong Wai, an over aged player for HK U23, along with Cheng Tsz-sum and Lau Hok-ming of BC Rangers. Southern winger Jahangir Khan is also being included as the 21-year-old will be available for both squads. Hong Kong will play India, Cambodia and Afghanistan in group D of the Asian Cup qualifiers in India. Winners across six groups will qualify to the final in China next year, along with five best runners-up. The top 13 teams of the region such as South Korea, Iran and Japan have already made it to China through the 2022 World Cup Asian zone qualifiers.