‘Brave’ Hong Kong football star Wai Yuen-ting gets her baptism of fire ... playing in Albania
- Wai Yuen-ting makes bold move to try her luck with Balkan club Vllaznia, hoping other women would take the plunge and play overseas
- The 27-year-old attacking midfielder made her European debut in a 10-0 rout against Juban Danja over the weekend
Hong Kong football officials are applauding Wai Yuen-ting’s bold move to ply her trade in unfashionable Albania, hoping more local women footballers would take the initiative of pursuing their dreams by playing overseas.
The 27-year-old star player left Hong Kong to begin a professional career in Europe with little-known Albanian club Vllaznia and Hong Kong officials think the move could inspire other local players to try their luck elsewhere, even if the club might not be a household name.
Hong Kong international Wai is on trial at Vllaznia, Albania’s leading club, who are based in Shkoder city and are leading the national league championship. The club have won all 13 games so far this season, including a thumping 10-0 victory against Juban Danja in a local derby on Sunday. The attacking midfielder was featured in the match, playing 60 minutes in her European debut.
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“She is very keen to experience professional football even if it means she has to play in a little-known country, far away from home,” said Hong Kong women’s football manager Betty Wong Yeuk-ling.
“Wai has put together a number of videos of her performances and have sent it to overseas clubs, hoping she can get opportunities to play for them. At first, she had reservations playing in Albania because she doesn’t know too much about the country. But the temptation of playing top-class football in Europe was something she could not resist.
“And definitely it’s going to be a good experience for her. It will be an opportunity for her to widen her horizon in the sport and at the same time inspire more Hong Kong players to pursue their football dreams.”
According to Wong, Vllaznia are a club who have regularly competed in the Uefa Champions League. They have won the domestic title for six straight seasons since 2014. Wai can play in the top-tier regional competition if she manages to land a full-time contract with Vllaznia.
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“She doesn’t seem to have too many problems adapting to her new country,” said Wong, who spoke to the player after Sunday’s game. “She is living with some of her teammates and she is very focused in her training as it has been her goal to play professional football.”
A media channel in Shkoder mentioned Wai had made her debut for Vllaznia on Sunday but didn’t elaborate whether she had impressed for the club or not. Vllaznia have five games remaining before the end of the season.
Wai played for Hong Kong club Citizen before leaving for Albania. She is a member of the Hong Kong representative team and played for the city at an international tournament in Turkey in March. She is a philosophy graduate at the Washington University in the United States.
