China v Hong Kong was a

1986 FIFA World Cup qualification The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

match played on 19 May 1985, noteworthy in that the surprise result caused deep dissatisfaction and hooliganism among Mainland Chinese football fans, leading to the match being immortalised as the 19 May Incident or 5.19 incident (). Needing a victory to advance, Hong Kong achieved a stunning 2–1 win to eliminate heavily-favoured China, with goals from

Cheung Chi Tak Cheung Chi Tak (, born 15 September 1958) is a former Hong Kong professional football player. His nickname was "Little Ghost" (). He is of Danish descent. Early career He made his professional debut in 1977 with Hong Kong Rangers FC. When hi ...

in the 19th minute and

Ku Kam Fai Ku Kam Fai (; born 27 January 1961) is a Hong Kong former professional footballer and the current head coach of South China. His nickname is Muk Tsui Fai (木嘴輝). He is widely regarded as one of the best defenders and sweepers in Hong Ko ...

in the 60th minute. Indian referee

Melvyn D'Souza Melvyn is a masculine given name which may refer to: * Melvyn Betts (born 1975), English cricketer * Melvyn Bragg (born 1939), British broadcaster and author * Melvyn Caplan, British Conservative politician * Melvyn Douglas (1901-1981), American ...

officiated the match, which was described by commentators at the time as being played in an unusually intense (for an Asian World Cup qualifier) manner. After the loss, disgruntled home fans rioted in the

Workers' Stadium The Workers' Stadium (), often called Gongti, Gong Ti or Kung T'i, is a multi-purpose stadium in the Chaoyang District of north-eastern Beijing, China. It was mostly used for association football matches. The stadium was built in 1959 and was l ...

and the People's Armed Police were needed to restore order. Due to the high stakes, the match was one of the most notable in the

rivalry A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant ...

between the China and

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

national football teams.

Background

China were the runners-up of the

1984 AFC Asian Cup The 1984 AFC Asian Cup was the 8th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international association football, football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were hosted by Singapore between 1 Decemb ...

and expected to be by far the strongest team in its

AFC Zone B first round group. China and Hong Kong had met earlier in the tournament, playing out a scoreless draw in Hong Kong. They entered the final match tied on points; however, China held the advantage in goal differential due to larger margins of victory over the group's other two teams,

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely surrounded by t ...

and

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a p ...

. Thus, in order to advance to the next round, Hong Kong would need an unlikely away win in the Chinese capital.

Table before the match

After 12 May 1985, the group 4A table was as follows: ''China qualifies for second round with win or draw.'' ''Hong Kong qualifies for second round with win only.''

Match

Summary

Under the glare of the floodlights and the noise of 80,000 fans at the Workers' Stadium in Beijing, the Chinese team began the game on the offensive, determined to achieve a win rather than a draw and finally qualify in dominant fashion. However, while the hosts came up empty initially, it was Hong Kong who struck the first surprising blow in the 19th minute. During a free kick,

Wu Kwok Hung Wu Kwok Hung (; 22 May 1949 – 15 June 2015), nicknamed "Big Head", was a former Hong Kong professional football player. Club career Wu played in the Hong Kong First Division League for teams including Tung Sing, South China and Seiko as a mi ...

back-heeled the ball stealthily behind him to defender

, who from well outside the penalty box blasted a thunderous shot past Chinese goalkeeper

Lu Jianren Lu Jianren () is a Chinese football coach and a former international goalkeeper who played for Beijing FC and China in the 1984 Asian Cup. Playing career Lu Jianren played for his local football club Beijing FC's youth team before gaining pr ...

into the upper corner, making the score 1–0 in favor of the visitors. Undeterred, China increased pressure, and equalized twelve minutes later when Li Hui scored on a rebound after Hong Kong's keeper Chan Wan Ngok could not secure an initial shot. However, the Chinese players surprisingly went on the attack again in the second half, allowing more offensive chances for the Hong Kong side, culminating when

scored a rebound attempt of his own to put Hong Kong in the lead again after 60 minutes. Over the final half-hour of play, China fired several shots on goal in a desperate scramble for an equalizer, but it never came and Hong Kong left the pitch with a historic 2-1 victory.

Details

Aftermath

Result

''Hong Kong advances to Zone B Second Round.'' In the AFC Zone B Second Round (AFC semifinals), Hong Kong faced another heavy favorite in a two-legged matchup with Japan. They quickly allowed two goals in the first leg in Japan, eventually falling 3–0. They performed better in the second leg at home, but missed a penalty and lost 2–1. Japan advanced to the Zone B Final Round, 5–1 on

aggregate score There are a number of formats used in various levels of competition in sports and games to determine an overall champion. Some of the most common are the ''single elimination'', the ''best-of-'' series, the ''total points series'' more commonly kn ...

. For China, the result represented another frustrating setback in their quest to qualify for their first World Cup finals. In the qualifying tournament for the 1982 edition, they had lost to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

by the same score in a winner-take-all match to qualify for the World Cup Finals. It would not be until 2002 that China would finally qualify for their first FIFA World Cup.

Hooliganism incident

This match also led to "the first incident of football hooliganism in the history of the People's Republic of China". While Hong Kong's team received a hero's welcome upon their return, disgruntled mainland Chinese fans rioted in and around Workers Stadium after the match, and the People's Armed Police were needed to restore order. 127 people were arrested in total. Zeng Xuelin, manager of the Chinese national team, and

Li Fenglou Li Fenglou (Chinese: 李凤楼; June 15, 1912 – July 31, 1988) was a Chinese footballer and coach. As a player, he represented Zixing Football Team and North China, however he is predominantly remembered for being the People's Republic of China ...

, chairman of the

Chinese Football Association The Chinese Football Association (CFA) is the governing body for association football, beach soccer and futsal in People's Republic of China (Mainland China). The CFA organizes the men's and women's national teams and administers the country ...

, both resigned after the incident.

References

*
资料：中国足球“519惨案”

Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:China v Hong Kong football match China national football team matches Hong Kong national football team matches 1984–85 in Hong Kong football 1985 in Chinese football Riots and civil disorder in China Association football riots Association football hooliganism Association football controversies 1986 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC) FIFA World Cup qualification matches May 1985 sports events in Asia

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...