Lee Man FC

Lee Man Football Club

Full name	Branded name: Lee Man Football Club Legal registration name: Lee Man Football Limited
Nickname(s)	Golden Dragon
Founded	2017; 7 years ago (2017)
Ground	Tseung Kwan O Sports Ground
Capacity	3,500
Chairman	Norman Lee
Head coach	Matthew Holland
League	Hong Kong Premier League
2023–24	Premier League, 1st of 11 (champion)
Home colours Away colours
Current season

Lee Man Football Club (Chinese: 理文足球會) is a Hong Kong professional football club based in Tseung Kwan O, which currently competes in the Hong Kong Premier League. Lee & Man Chemical Limited is the major sponsor of the club.

The club won their first league title in the 2023–24 season with an unbeaten record.

Lee Man Football Club was established on 19 June 2017 by Lee Man Football Limited with the aim of promoting football in Hong Kong and allowing Hong Kong football players to shine with the club.

During the 2017–18 season, Lee Man Football Limited decided to invest their money in building their own football club. They paid an entrance fee of HKD 1 million to the Hong Kong Football Association for the right to enter a club directly into the Hong Kong Premier League.^[1] The club hired former Hong Kong international Fung Ka Ki as their first manager on 3 July 2017.^[2] Lee Man recorded their first win in the club history on 15 September in a 3–2 league win against Eastern with Spanish player Jordi Tarrés scoring the club's first official goal. However, Manager Fung Ka Ki would only last one season as manager since the club finished a disappointing 8th place.

On 21 May 2018, Lee Man hired former Hong Kong national team and Macau national team head coach Chan Hiu Ming as its manager.^[3] Under Chan, the club won its first trophy, capturing the 2018–19 Hong Kong Sapling Cup on 27 April 2019 in a 3–2 victory over Yuen Long.^[4]

Lee Man participated in their first intercontinental tournament, the AFC Cup qualifying straight to the 2021 AFC Cup group stage, On 23 June 2021, Lee Man recorded their first win in the tournament against another local club, Eastern SC with Gil scoring the only goal in the match in a 1–0 win. Lee Man went on to win all of their group stage match winning Taiwanese club Tainan City 4–1 on 26 June and winning against Mongolian club Athletic 220 thrashing them 1–5 on 29 June thus qualifying to the Inter-zone play-off finals playing against Uzbekistani club Nasaf on 20 October. Throughout the match, Lee Man put up a good fight against Nasaf drawing with them 2–2 thus seeing them both going through extra time, however in the first half of extra time, opponent player Andrija Kaluđerović scored the goal for Nasaf which would see Lee Man bowed out from the tournament with the final score being 3–2.

Lee Man then qualified for the 2022 AFC Cup group stage being placed with the same opponent in 2021, but this time, the club bowed out from the tournament early in the group stage.

On 5 February 2023, Chan was sacked by Lee Man after a disappointing performance and on 27 April 2023, Tsang Chiu Tat was appointed as the head coach of the club. Lee Man finished the 2022–23 season as runners-up which sees the club qualified for the 2023–24 AFC Champions League qualifying phase. On 16 August 2023, Lee Man thrashed Indonesian club Bali United 5–1 at home which saw them qualified for the play-off round against 2022 AFC Champions League winner, Urawa Red Diamonds, however, Lee Man lost 3–0 to the Japanese side at the Saitama Stadium 2002 which see their opponent qualified to the group stage.

On 19 May 2024, Lee Man secured their first Hong Kong Premier League title after a 6–1 victory against Sham Shui Po.^[5] They became the fourth club to win the league title and the second unbeaten title-winning team – a record of 17 wins and 3 draws. Lee Man also directly qualified for the group stage of the inaugural 2024–25 AFC Champions League Two. The club is then drawn into Group G alongside Thailand club Bangkok United, Vietnamese club Nam Định and Singaporean club Tampines Rovers.

Lee Man played their home matches at the Tseung Kwan O Sports Ground which can hold a capacity of up to 5,000. However as the stadium didn't meet the AFC requirements, Lee Man used the Mong Kok Stadium as their home ground to host all of their 2024–25 AFC Champions League Two matches.

As of 16 November 2024^[6]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  HKG Leung Hing Kit 2 DF  HKG Timothy Chow 4 DF  JPN Ryoya Tachibana FP 5 DF  HKG Dudu 6 MF  HKG Wu Chun Ming (vice-captain) 7 MF  NED Mitchel Paulissen FP 8 FW  HKG Everton Camargo 9 FW  EST Henri Anier FP 10 MF  HKG Wong Wai (vice-captain) 11 FW  HKG Cheng Siu Kwan 12 MF  HKG Law Cheuk Hei 13 DF  HKG Li Ngai Hoi 14 MF  IRQ Jiloan Hamad FP 16 MF  HKG Ngan Lok Fung (captain)

No. Pos. Nation Player 17 FW  HKG Chang Hei Yin 18 MF  HKG Tang In Chim 19 DF  KOR Kim Min-kyu FP 20 FW  BRA Paulinho Simionato FP 21 MF  HKG Wong Long Kaa 22 DF  HKG Jim Ho Chun 25 GK  HKG Poon Sheung Hei 26 DF  HKG Wong Chun Ho 27 DF  ESP Gaizka Martínez FP 28 GK  HKG Chan Ka Ho 30 MF  HKG Hui Siu Chung 31 DF  HKG Yung Hui To 91 FW  BRA Samuel Rosa FP

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

Position	Staff
Head coach	Matthew Holland
Assistant coach	Darren Read
Assistant coach	Chu Siu Kei
Assistant coach	Szeto Man Chun
Goalkeeping coach	Cheng Ho Man
Fitness coach	Lee Kin Wai
Analytical coach	Kwok Chun Lam

Source:^{[citation needed]}

Note:

  1st or Champions   2nd or Runners-up   3rd place   Promotion   Relegation

Season	Competition	Round	Opponent	Home	Away	Aggregate
2021	AFC Cup	Group J	Eastern	1–0		1st
			Tainan City	4–1
			Athletic 220	5–1
		Inter-zone play-off final	Nasaf Qarshi	2–3 (a.e.t.)
2022	AFC Cup	Play-off round	Athletic 220	2–1
		Group J	Eastern	1–3		2nd
			Tainan City	3–1
2023–24	AFC Champions League	Preliminary stage	Bali United	5–1
		Play-off stage	Urawa Red Diamonds	0–3
2024–25	AFC Champions League Two	Group G	Bangkok United	0–1	1–4	4th
			Thép Xanh Nam Định	0–2	0–3
			Tampines Rovers		1–3

• Hong Kong Premier League
  • Champions (1): 2023–24
  • Runners-up (1): 2022–23

• Hong Kong Sapling Cup
  • Champions (1): 2018–19
  • Runners-up (1): 2022–23
• Hong Kong Senior Shield
  • Runners-up (1): 2019–20
• Hong Kong Premier League Committee Cup
  • Runners-up (1): 2023–24

Coach	From	To	Achievements
Fung Ka Ki	1 July 2017	9 April 2018
Fung Hoi Man	10 April 2018	20 May 2018
Chan Hiu Ming	21 May 2018	5 February 2023[7]	– 2018–19 Hong Kong Sapling Cup
Tsang Chiu Tat	5 February 2023	3 October 2024	– 2023–24 Hong Kong Premier League
Chu Siu Kei	3 October 2024	21 November 2024
Matthew Holland	21 November 2024

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• Lee Man FC's channel on YouTube