Chan Yuk Chi (, born 8 September 1984) is a former

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 Delt ...

professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

Club career

Chan Yuk Chi was born in Hong Kong. He joined the youth team of

Yee Hope Yee Hope Football Club () is a now defunct Hong Kong Association football, football club which played in the Hong Kong First Division League between 1997 and 2001. In 1999–00 and Hong Kong First Division League 2000-01, 2000–01, the te ...

and Hong Kong Rangers when he was in secondary school, but had chosen to give up his dreams on playing football and instead concentrated on studying due to the pressure of handling both sides. When the Third District Division League was formed,

Tai Po Football Club Tai Po Football Club (), also known as Wofoo Tai Po due to sponsorship reasons, is a Hong Kong professional football club which currently competes in the Hong Kong Premier League. In the 2018–19 season, Tai Po successfully won their first ...

joined the league and Chan Yuk Chi has been part of the team from that point. After finishing the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination (HKALE), Chan Yuk Chi continued his studies in

Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology where he obtained a

Bachelor of Engineering A Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) or a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) is an academic undergraduate degree awarded to a student after three to five years of studying engineering at an accredited college or university. In the UK, a Bache ...

degree three years later. During Chan Yuk Chi's time at university, he shared his time between studying and football again. After living in school dormitory for the first semester, Chan Yuk Chi moved back home for the rest of his university time, as it was more convenient to attend the Tai Po FC training sessions held in Tai Po. He also took up the responsibilities of a coach in the training sessions, as he is also a HKFA "C” Licence Coach. At the time he graduated from the university,

obtained promotion from the 2nd division to the 1st Division and he became a professional football player since then (which is unusual in Hong Kong as the common recognised declining of Hong Kong Football). He told the media that he would as least take part in professional football for 2 years to see if he would be capable to achieve something in football. He has also mentioned on several occasions that being a professional football player was his dream, including in a conversation with

Donald Tsang Sir Donald Tsang Yam-kuen (; born 7 October 1944) is a former Hong Kong civil servant who served as the second Chief Executive of Hong Kong from 2005 to 2012. Tsang joined the colonial civil service as an Executive Officer in 1967, occupyi ...

, the

Chief Executive of Hong Kong The Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is the representative of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and head of the Government of Hong Kong. The position was created to replace the office of governor of ...

. Although not a guaranteed starter at Tai Po since the club was promoted, in his first 1st Division season Chan Yuk Chi still kept the captaincy and also experienced large portions of game minutes and many starting games, including playing and skippering the whole 90 minutes of the match in which Tai Po won against multiple cup winners

Kitchee Kitchee Sports Club (; ; ) is a Hong Kong professional Association football, football club based in Kowloon. It was founded in 1931 and currently competes in the Hong Kong Premier League. The club has won championships in Hong Kong 11 times, in ...

2–1, where defender Joel scored the winner in the 90th minute from a direct free kick. He played for the club in 19 matches in total in the first season. Apart from being a full-time player, Chan Yuk Chi was also an assistant secretary at the club. Tai Po announced on 16 July 2017 that Chan had retired from football but remains in a coaching position at the club.

Honours

;Tai Po *

Hong Kong Third District Division League Hong Kong Third 'District' Division League was a division of the third overall tier of the Hong Kong football league system organised by the Hong Kong Football Association in Hong Kong, along with Hong Kong Third 'A' Division League. It was fol ...

: 2003–04 *

Hong Kong FA Cup Hong Kong FA Cup () is a knockout cup competition in Hong Kong football, run by and named after The Hong Kong Football Association. The first edition of the competition was held in 1975, before then the cup was known as the Golden Jubilee Cup. Th ...

: 2008–09 * Hong Kong Senior Challenge Shield:

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

* Hong Kong Sapling Cup: 2016–17

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chan, Yuk Chi 1984 births Living people Hong Kong men's footballers Hong Kong football managers Men's association football defenders Tai Po FC players Hong Kong Premier League players Hong Kong First Division League players Alumni of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Hong Kong League XI representative players