Southern District Recreation & Sports Assn Ltd (), commonly known as Southern and currently known for sponsorship reasons as Kwoon Chung Southern, is a professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club based in

Southern District, Hong Kong The Southern District is one of the 18 districts of Hong Kong. It is located in the southern part of Hong Kong Island. It had a population of 274,994 in 2016. Geography The Southern District faces the South China Sea at the south, and is ...

. They currently compete in the

Hong Kong Premier League The Hong Kong Premier League () is a Hong Kong professional football league organised by the Hong Kong Football Association. It is currently sponsored by BOC Life and officially known as BOC Life Hong Kong Premier League (). The inaugural seaso ...

History

Southern District entered the newly formed Hong Kong Third District Division during the 2002–03 season. However, the team did not reach the Hong Kong Third Division League Final Round and thus did not get promotion in the first few years of their history. In the 2006–07 season, they reached the Final Round for the first time since the club was formed. They were the runners up of the Third District Division and qualified for the Final Round, however, they could not get promotion as they only managed to gain two points. In the 2007–08 season, they retained last season's good performance, reached the Final Round again as they were again the 1st runner-up of Third District Division League, 9 points behind

Shatin Sha Tin, also spelt Shatin, is a neighbourhood along Shing Mun River in the eastern New Territories, Hong Kong. Administratively, it is part of the Sha Tin District. Sha Tin is one of the neighbourhoods of the Sha Tin New Town project. The ne ...

. Unfortunately, they could not gain the promotion again as they were 4 points behind the promotion places. In the 2008–09 season, they could not qualify for the Final Round as they only placed at 4th of Third District Division. They were finally promoted to the Hong Kong Second Division for the first time in the 2009–10 season. They were the 1st runner-up of the Third District Division League and competed with the other 3 teams in the Final Round for promotion. Although they only placed at 3rd in the final round,

Eastern Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai *Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 *Eastern Air Li ...

decided not to accept promotion and the right to be promoted was passed to Southern who did accept. They successfully avoided relegation and stayed in the Second Division during their first season. They were the 4th out of 12 teams, 10 points behind the champions

Sham Shui Po Sham Shui Po is an area of Kowloon, Hong Kong, situated in the northwestern part of the Kowloon Peninsula, north of Tai Kok Tsui, east of Cheung Sha Wan and south of Shek Kip Mei (). It is located in and is the namesake of the Sham Shui P ...

. On the other hand, they won their first trophy since their formation on 9 January 2011. They defeated Double Flower in the final of

Hong Kong Junior Shield Hong Kong Junior Shield () was a football competition in Hong Kong established in 1922. All teams in the Second Division and the Third Division were included in the competition. South China was the most successful club, winning 9 titles. Hist ...

Hong Kong Stadium Hong Kong Stadium is the main sports venue of Hong Kong. Redeveloped from the old Government Stadium, it reopened as Hong Kong Stadium in March 1994. It has a maximum seating capacity of 40,000, including 18,260 at the main level, 3,173 at exec ...

. They were promoted to the Hong Kong First Division for the first time in the 2011–12 season, as they were the 1st runner-up of the Hong Kong Second Division, three points behind champions Rangers. They were branded as Royal Southern in the 2013–14 season, and finished 4th out of 12 teams. However, the club chose to self-relegate after the end of the season. They returned to the top flight in the 2015–16 season. Starting from this season, the club was rebranded as Kwoon Chung Southern due to sponsorship reasons. In 2016–17, Southern finished third in the table, their highest position in club history. Southern matched their table position from 2016–17 with another third-place finish in 2018–19. The club also reached the finals of

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 ...

for the first time, losing 2–0 to

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 ...

Name history

*2002–2013: Southern (南區) *2013–2014: Royal Southern (皇室南區) *2014–2015: Southern (南區) *2015–: Kwoon Chung Southern (冠忠南區)

Stadium

Since 2007, Southern have played their home games at

Aberdeen Sports Ground Aberdeen Sports Ground () is a rugby union and football sports ground situated at 108 Wong Chuk Hang Road, Aberdeen, Hong Kong. It is the home stadium of Hong Kong Premier League football club Southern and Global Rapid Rugby rugby union team Sou ...

. They began playing their home games there during their days in the Hong Kong Third District Division. After Southern was promoted to the Hong Kong First Division, the club have continued to use Aberdeen Sports Ground as their home stadium. In September of 2018, the canopy of the main grandstand at Aberdeen Sports Ground was damaged due to

Typhoon Mangkhut Typhoon Mangkhut (), known in the Philippines as Typhoon Ompong, was a powerful and catastrophic tropical cyclone that caused extensive damage in Guam, the Philippines and South China in September 2018. It was the strongest typhoon to strike L ...

. Although a temporary canopy was erected over the opposite grandstand in order to allow Southern to continue to use the stadium for the remainder of the 2018–19 season, the

Leisure and Cultural Services Department The Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD), is a department in the Government of Hong Kong. It reports to the Culture, Sports & Tourism Bureau, headed by the Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism. It provides leisure and cultural ...

determined that installation of a new canopy on the main grandstand was to begin in June of 2019. As the renovations were scheduled to last until the end of March 2020, Southern applied to use

Mong Kok Stadium Mong Kok Stadium () is a stadium in Mong Kok, Kowloon, Hong Kong. With a capacity of 6,664 (comprising four stands of 1,666), it hosts Hong Kong Premier League football matches, with Southern and Kitchee currently sharing the venue. The stadiu ...

as their home stadium for the 2019–20 season.

Team staff

{, class="wikitable" , - !Position !Staff , - , Head coach, ,

Cheng Siu Chung Cheng Siu Chung (; born 29 September 1972 in Hong Kong) is a Hong Kong football manager and former professional player. He is currently the head coach of Hong Kong Premier League club Southern. He served as a commentator for the 2010 FIFA ...

, - , Assistant Coach, , Pui Ho Wang , - , Assistant Coach, ,

Beto Fronza Roberto Fronza (; born 10 July 1984), also known as Beto, is a former Brazilian professional footballer who played as a centre back. He currently serves as an assistant coach for Hong Kong Premier League club Southern. Club career Pegasus ...

, - , Goalkeeping Coach, ,

Fan Chun Yip Fan Chun Yip (; born 1 May 1976) is a former Hong Kong professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is currently the goalkeeping coach of Hong Kong Premier League club Southern. Widely considered as one of the best goalkeepers in Ho ...

, - , Physiotherapist, , Ella Yeung , - , Physiotherapist, , Fong Ho Kee , - , Media Director, ,

Tse Tak Him Tse Tak Him (; born 10 February 1985 in Hong Kong) is a Hong Kong professional footballer who currently plays as a goalkeeper for Hong Kong Premier League club Southern. Club career Citizen During the 2010–11 Hong Kong Senior Challenge ...

, - , Fans Club Officer, , Lo Wai Tat , - , Fans Club Assistant, , Lam Ho Kwan

Current squad

First team

^FP ^FP ^FP ^FP ^FP ''(on loan from

)'' ^FP ''(on loan from

)'' ''(on loan from

)'' ^FP Remarks:
^LP These players are registered as local players in Hong Kong domestic football competitions.
^FP These players are registered as foreign players.

Reserve team squad

Season-to-season record

{, class="wikitable" , -bgcolor="#efefef" ! Season ! Tier ! Division ! Teams ! Position ! Home Stadium ! Attendance/G !

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

Senior Shield The Hong Kong Senior Challenge Shield (), known commonly as the Senior Shield, is the Association football, football Single-elimination tournament, knockout inter-club competition held in Hong Kong and the List of oldest football competitions, fo ...

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

Sapling Cup Hong Kong Football Association Sapling Cup (), more commonly known as Sapling Cup (), is a Hong Kong domestic football competition contested by all the teams in the Hong Kong Premier League. The objective of the Cup is to provide more playing opp ...

, - , align=center, 2002–03 , align=center bgcolor=#ffc0a0, 3 , align=center bgcolor=#ffc0a0, Third District Division , align=center, 13 , align=center, , align=center style="background:gray;", , align=center, , align=center, – , align=center, – , align=center, – , align=center style="background:gray;", , - , align=center, 2003–04 , align=center bgcolor=#ffc0a0, 3 , align=center bgcolor=#ffc0a0, Third District Division , align=center, , align=center, , align=center style="background:gray;", , align=center, , align=center, – , align=center, – , align=center, – , align=center style="background:gray;", , - , align=center, 2004–05 , align=center bgcolor=#ffc0a0, 3 , align=center bgcolor=#ffc0a0, Third District Division , align=center, , align=center, , align=center style="background:gray;", , align=center, , align=center, – , align=center, – , align=center, – , align=center style="background:gray;", , - , align=center, 2005–06 , align=center bgcolor=#ffc0a0, 3 , align=center bgcolor=#ffc0a0, Third District Division , align=center, , align=center, , align=center style="background:gray;", , align=center, , align=center, – , align=center, – , align=center, – , align=center style="background:gray;", , - , align=center, 2006–07 , align=center bgcolor=#ffc0a0, 3 , align=center bgcolor=#ffc0a0, Third District Division , align=center, 17 , align=center bgcolor=silver, 2 , align=center style="background:gray;", , align=center, , align=center, – , align=center, – , align=center, – , align=center style="background:gray;", , - , align=center, 2007–08 , align=center bgcolor=#ffc0a0, 3 , align=center bgcolor=#ffc0a0, Third District Division , align=center, 17 , align=center bgcolor=silver, 2 , align=center style="background:gray;", , align=center, , align=center, – , align=center, – , align=center, – , align=center style="background:gray;", , - , align=center, 2008–09 , align=center bgcolor=#ffc0a0, 3 , align=center bgcolor=#ffc0a0, Third District Division , align=center, 15 , align=center, 4 , align=center style="background:gray;", , align=center, , align=center, – , align=center, – , align=center, – , align=center style="background:gray;", , - , align=center, 2009–10 , align=center bgcolor=#ffc0a0, 3 , align=center bgcolor=#ffc0a0, Third District Division , align=center, 14 , align=center bgcolor="#DDFFDD", 2 , align=center style="background:gray;", , align=center, , align=center, – , align=center, – , align=center style="background:gray;", , align=center style="background:gray;", , - , align=center, 2010–11 , align=center bgcolor=#ffc0a0, 2 , align=center bgcolor=#ffc0a0,

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

, align=center, 12 , align=center, 6 , align=center style="background:gray;", , align=center, , align=center, – , align=center, – , align=center, – , align=center style="background:gray;", , - , align=center, 2011–12 , align=center bgcolor=#ffc0a0, 2 , align=center bgcolor=#ffc0a0,

, align=center, 12 , align=center bgcolor="#DDFFDD", 2 , align=center style="background:gray;", , align=center, , align=center, – , align=center, – , align=center, – , align=center style="background:gray;", , - , align=center, 2012–13 , align=center, 1 , align=center, First Division , align=center, 10 , align=center, 4 , align=center,

, align=center, 554 , align=center, First Round , align=center, Semi-finals , align=center style="background:gray;", , align=center style="background:gray;", , - , align=center, 2013–14 , align=center, 1 , align=center, First Division , align=center, 12 , align=center bgcolor=#FFCCCC, 4 , align=center,

, align=center, 434 , align=center, Semi-finals , align=center, Semi-finals , align=center style="background:gray;", , align=center style="background:gray;", , - , align=center, 2014–15 , align=center bgcolor=#ffc0a0, 2 , align=center bgcolor=#ffc0a0, First Division , align=center, 15 , align=center bgcolor="#DDFFDD", 3 , align=center style="background:gray;", , align=center, , align=center, First Round , align=center, – , align=center, – , align=center style="background:gray;", , - , align=center, 2015–16 , align=center, 1 , align=center,

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

, align=center, 9 , align=center, 4 , align=center,

, align=center, 489 , align=center, Semi-finals , align=center bgcolor=silver, Runner-up , align=center, Group Stage , align=center, Group Stage , - , align=center, 2016–17 , align=center, 1 , align=center,

, align=center, 11 , align=center bgcolor=#cfaa88, 3 , align=center,

, align=center, 532 , align=center, Semi-finals , align=center, Semi-finals , align=center style="background:gray;", , align=center, Semi-finals , - , align=center, 2017–18 , align=center, 1 , align=center,

, align=center, 10 , align=center, 5 , align=center,

, align=center, 493 , align=center, Semi-finals , align=center, Semi-finals , align=center style="background:gray;", , align=center, Group Stage , - , align=center, 2018–19 , align=center, 1 , align=center,

, align=center, 10 , align=center bgcolor=#cfaa88, 3 , align=center,

, align=center, 827 , align=center bgcolor=silver, Runner-up , align=center, Quarter-finals , align=center style="background:gray;", , align=center, Group Stage , - , align=center, 2019–20 , align=center, 1 , align=center,

, align=center, 10 , align=center, 5 , align=center,

, align=center, 861 , align=center, Quarter-finals , align=center, Quarter-finals , align=center style="background:gray;", , align=center bgcolor=silver, Runner-up , - , align=center,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, align=center, 1 , align=center,

, align=center, 8 , align=center, 5 , align=center,

, align=center, 627 , align=center style="background:gray;", , align=center style="background:gray;", , align=center style="background:gray;", , align=center, Group Stage ''Note'':

Honours

League

* Hong Kong Second Division : Runners-up (1): 2011–12 * Hong Kong Third District Division : Runners-up (3): 2006–07, 2007–08, 2009–10

Cup competitions

: Runners-up (1): 2018–19 *

Hong Kong Senior Shield The Hong Kong Senior Challenge Shield (), known commonly as the Senior Shield, is the football knockout inter-club competition held in Hong Kong and the fourth oldest football tournament in Asia. Traditionally, only the teams in the Hong Kong Pr ...

: Runners-up (1): 2015–16 *

Hong Kong Sapling Cup Hong Kong Football Association Sapling Cup (), more commonly known as Sapling Cup (), is a Hong Kong domestic football competition contested by all the teams in the Hong Kong Premier League. The objective of the Cup is to provide more playing opp ...

: Runners-up (1): 2019–20 *

: Champions (1): 2010–11

Managers

(2006–2008) *

Fung Hoi Man Fung Hoi Man (, born 12 March 1977) is a Hong Kong football coach and a former player. He holds an AFC A Licence and The FA International Coaching Licence. Club career Fung's club career was more or less unsuccessful. He played for Eastern and ...

(2009–2015) *

(2015–2020) * Pui Ho Wang,

Cristiano Cordeiro Cristiano Preigchadt Cordeiro (; born 14 August 1973) is a former professional Association football, footballer. He is currently the assistant coach of Hong Kong Premier League club Eastern SC, Eastern. Born in Brazil, he represented Hong Kong ...

(2020) *

Zesh Rehman Zeshan Rehman ( ur, ; born 14 October 1983) is an English-born Pakistani former professional footballer who played as a defender. He is currently U18 coach and acting assistant coach at Portsmouth FC. He was the first British Asian to start ...

(2020–2022) *

(2022–)

eSports

Southern District is the first Hong Kong football club of creating an eSports department. By partnering with

Nova Esports Nova Esports is a professional esports organisation based in Hong Kong. It was founded in September 2016. Nova Esports currently fields players in '' League of Legends: Wild Rift'', ''Game for Peace'', ''PUBG Mobile'', '' Call of Duty: Mobile ...

, they signed Ronnie Yau as a

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

player and Kevin Lau as a

Pro Evolution Soccer ''eFootball'', formerly known as ''Pro Evolution Soccer'' (''PES'') internationally and in Japan and North America, is a series of association football simulation video games developed and published by Konami since 1995. The series consists ...

player.

External links

Southern District FC Official Website

References

{{Hong Kong Premier League Football clubs in Hong Kong Association football clubs established in 2002 2002 establishments in Hong Kong