Mission impossible as Hong Kong dream of reaching 2034 World Cup football finals
- Qualifying for football’s biggest extravaganza will be the ultimate goal in new five-year plan to secure continued government funding of HK$25 million a year
- Hong Kong are currently ranked 145th in the world, 76 places below China who reached the World Cup finals once in 2002
It’s a massive target that some sports officials think is achievable: What if Hong Kong qualify for the Fifa World Cup finals and they beat China to it first?
While the mainlanders have started recruiting foreign legions for their 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign, Hong Kong have also set their sights extremely high by targeting to play in football’s biggest extravaganza – in 2034. The venue for that tournament is yet to be decided.
It is believed the Hong Kong Football Association is making qualifying for World Cup 2034 its ultimate goal as they prepare the next five-year plan to secure the continuation of government funding.
The current plan, which is due to end in March next year, receives an annual subsidy of HK$25 million, plus another HK$25 million from the Hong Kong Jockey Club, to support development of the sport at all levels – from grass-roots promotion to hiring of the national coach for the representative teams.
At the moment, China are ranked 69 in the Fifa world ranking list, while Hong Kong trail 76 places behind in 145th place, which, on the face of it, appears to be a Herculean task for one of the minnows of the game to beat China to the football showpiece, which is held once every four years.