As women’s footballers juggle jobs, does Hong Kong need a professional league?
Coach Ricardo Rambo forced to take players’ day jobs into account as he plots to upset the Philippines to reach Asian Cup in Australia
Hong Kong face an extra obstacle as they aim to defy the odds on the field and reach next year’s AFC Women’s Asian Cup finals: most of the players have regular jobs.
Ranked 80th in the world, the city’s team are braced for a tough qualifying task, with only the winners of a group featuring Saudi Arabia, the Philippines and Cambodia set to make it to the 12-team tournament in Australia.
Coach Ricardo Rambo leads his side away to world No 118s Cambodia on Sunday, before meeting the fast-improving Saudis, ranked 165th, on Wednesday next week.
Then the real test will come against the 41st-ranked Philippines a week on Saturday.
But if that were not challenging enough, as boss of a part-time squad, Rambo has faced issues of player fatigue and, previously, withdrawals because of work commitments. The team’s weekday training sessions in Hong Kong typically take place from 8 to 10pm.
“We have to challenge them, but there needs to be a balance,” Rambo said. “They’ve been working and are tired – it’s no good shouting. We need to understand the players and take an individual approach.