Jockey Club HKFA Football Training Centre (Abbreviated as FTC, ) is a football training centre in

Tseung Kwan O Tseung Kwan O New Town is one of the nine new towns in Hong Kong, built mainly on reclaimed land in the northern half of Junk Bay (known as Tseung Kwan O in Chinese/Cantonese language) in southeastern New Territories, after which it is named. ...

New Territories The New Territories is one of the three main regions of Hong Kong, alongside Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula. It makes up 86.2% of Hong Kong's territory, and contains around half of the population of Hong Kong. Historically, it ...

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 ...

which was completed in September 2018.

History

In 2002, the

Hong Kong Football Association The Hong Kong Football Association Limited (), often abbreviated to the HKFA, is the governing body of association football in Hong Kong. Its current chairman is Pui Kwan Kay and its Chief Executive Officer is Joaquin Tam. History The HKFA was ...

announced a plan to build a National Football Training Centre at a closed landfill in Tseung Kwan O. It was going to be the first of its kind in Hong Kong and expected to be completed by 2008 with a $103-million grant from the

Hong Kong Jockey Club The Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) is one of the oldest institutions in Hong Kong, having been founded in 1884. In 1959, it was granted a Royal Charter and renamed The Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club (). The institution reverted to its original name ...

. But it never got off the ground. In 2012, under new Chief Executive Officer Mark Sutcliffe and Project Phoenix, the HKFA have recognized the importance of the centre and it is discussing sponsorship with the Hong Kong Jockey Club to finance the centre's construction. The HKFA will work with the Government and the Hong Kong Jockey Club to develop the business plan and site master plan for this much needed facility. Mark Sutcliffe hopes that the work done in 2013 will enable a start on construction in early 2014. On 17 November 2015, Mark Sutcliffe said HK$133 million in funding from the Hong Kong Jockey Club has been agreed for the construction, which is due to start in 2016. A consultant company will be appointed to oversee the construction project which will see three natural turf pitches and three artificial turf pitches to be built on the former landfill. The government has also released the land which was previously held under the Restored Landfill Revitalisation Funding Scheme. On 15 December 2016, HKFA CEO Mark Sutcliffe announced to the media that initial work for construction of facility has recently started and should be ready in July 2017. Local contractor Projexasia was awarded the construction contract in late 2016. A view on the construction

Facilities

The centre contains three natural grass and artificial turf pitches each with additional futsal facilities, administrative offices, classrooms, gymnasiums and changing rooms. The FTC is the main training ground for Hong Kong's men's and women's national teams as well as its youth teams. When not in use for the national team, the facilities are available for booking by the public.

References

External websites

Jockey Club HKFA Football Training Centre (HKFA)
{{National Football Centres Tseung Kwan O Sports venues in Hong Kong Football venues in Hong Kong National football academies