Cheung Chi Doy (or transliterated as Chang Tse Da; born 30 March 1941) is a Hong Kong former 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 ...

. Started his career in native Hong Kong, in the British Empire, he also played for English side Blackpool. In international level, he represented Republic of China (aka Taiwan, now Chinese Taipei national team). Cheung was the first

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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 ...

football player to play in

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. He began his career in the Hong Kong First Division at 14 years of age. In 1960, he went to play for

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

club Blackpool, where he was a teammate of

Jimmy Armfield James Christopher Armfield, (21 September 1935 – 22 January 2018) was an English professional football player and manager who latterly worked as a football pundit for BBC Radio Five Live. He played the whole of his Football League career at B ...

. He became the first ethnic Chinese player to appear in the top flight of English football. He made two appearances for Blackpool's first team and scored one goal, against

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...

on November 25, 1961. In 1968, he and his brother Cheung Chi Wai joined the

Vancouver Royals The Vancouver Royals were a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Founded in 1967 as the Vancouver Royal Canadians, they were a charter member of the United Soccer Association (USA), and when the USA an ...

, playing under

Bobby Robson Sir Robert William Robson (18 February 1933 – 31 July 2009) was an English footballer and football manager. His career included periods playing for and later managing the England national team and being a UEFA Cup-winning manager at Ipswich ...

in the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...

. While he began the season in Vancouver, he finished it with the St. Louis Stars. He also played for Tung Wah,

Kitchee Kitchee Sports Club (; ; ) is a Hong Kong professional 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, including 6 Hong Kong ...

and

Jardine SA Jardine (in Chinese: 怡和, previously known as 渣甸) is a Hong Kong football club who are an associate member of HKFA which does not take part in any division of the league. Jardines quit and re-entered the league twice during the 50s and 7 ...

in the Hong Kong First Division. Since the end of Cheung's stint at Blackpool in 1962, he remains the first and, thus far, only Hong Kong-born football player to have ever played for a top-flight European club. He remains one of only two HongKongers to have played professional football in England, along with Dai Wai Tsun who made his debut in 2017. In the 1963-64 season, he scored a record number of 42 goals playing for Kitchee SC.

Personal life

Cheung Chi Doy's father, Chang King Hai (), and brother Cheung Chi Wai were also footballers. Cheung Chi Doy's son, Nelson Cheung, is an actor and fashion designer. In 2011 Cheung Chi Doy was arrested for shoplifting in a supermarket. He was fined HK$2,000 by the court.

References

External links

NASL statistics

"Pool Pioneers of the Orient"
- ''Blackpool Gazette'', 26 February 2008 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cheung, Chi Doy 1941 births Sing Tao SC players Hong Kong footballers Blackpool F.C. players Kitchee SC players Hong Kong First Division League players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Vancouver Royals players St. Louis Stars (soccer) players Living people Hong Kong expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Hong Kong expatriates in Canada Expatriate soccer players in Canada Hong Kong expatriates in the United States Expatriate soccer players in the United States Happy Valley AA players Kitchee SC managers Chinese Taipei international footballers Chinese Taipei international footballers from Hong Kong Taiwanese footballers Footballers at the 1960 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers of Taiwan Association football forwards Hong Kong football managers