Hong Kong have been handed a date by former head coach Jorn Andersen after the city’s team were drawn in the same group as Myanmar for the first time in the Fifa Asean Cup in September and October.
As hosts of the second division of the tournament as an invited team, Hong Kong will also face Brunei in Group A of the “Challenge Division”, the leaders of the table cutting a ticket to the finals against one of Cambodia, Laos and East Timor, three teams in Group B. The runners-up of the group will be judged by a play-off for the third winner.
In June, Cambodia gave Roberto Losada a serious baptism, overwhelming Hong Kong in a 2-0 victory, four days after the manager began his permanent reign with an easy win over lowly Mongolia by the same scoreline.
The new Asean Championship will be contested from September 24 to October 3, during the new Fifa window.
Indonesia will field an eight-team ‘Premier Division’ which, surprisingly, will feature the 198th team, Pakistan, the visitors who replaced China, who bailed on the friendly competition which their football chiefs believe will qualify as the best preparation for next year’s AFC Asian Cup finals.
Having lauded his two-and-a-half-year spell as Hong Kong’s coach as they qualified for the Asian Cup in 2023, ending the city’s 55-year wait to reach a major tournament, and overseeing a 2022 Asian Games semi-final campaign, Andersen was named Myanmar’s head coach last month.
