Southern District FC

Southern District Recreation & Sports Assn Ltd (Chinese: 南區足球會), commonly known as Southern and currently known for sponsorship reasons as Kwoon Chung Southern, is a professional football club based in Southern District, Hong Kong. They currently compete in the Hong Kong Premier League.

Southern
Full nameSouthern District Recreation & Sports Assn. Ltd.
Nickname(s)The Aberdeeners
Founded2002; 22 years ago (2002)
GroundAberdeen Sports Ground
Capacity4,500
PresidentMatthew Wong
Head coachYeung Ching Kwong
LeagueHong Kong Premier League
2023–24Premier League, 5th of 11
WebsiteClub website

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. 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 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. 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 at Hong Kong Stadium.

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.[1]

In 2016–17, Southern finished third in the table, their highest position in club history.

Southern matched their table position from 2016 to 2017 with another third-place finish in 2018–19. The club also reached the finals of Hong Kong FA Cup for the first time, losing 2–0 to Kitchee.[2]

The club claimed their first silverware in the form of the 2022–23 Sapling Cup with a 2–0 win over Lee Man aided by a brace by Stefan Pereira.[3]

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

Aberdeen Sports Ground viewed from Bennet's Hill

Since 2007, Southern have played their home games at Aberdeen Sports Ground. 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 2018, the canopy of the main grandstand at Aberdeen Sports Ground was damaged due to Typhoon Mangkhut.[4] 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 determined that installation of a new canopy on the main grandstand was to begin in June 2019.[5] As the renovations were scheduled to last until the end of March 2020, Southern applied to use Mong Kok Stadium as their home stadium for the 2019–20 season.[6]

Club officials

Executive staff

PositionStaff
Club president Chan Man Chun
Club chairman Wong Cheuk Tim

Source: [citation needed]

Coaching staff

PositionStaff
Head coach Yeung Ching Kwong
Technical director Cheng Siu Chung
Assistant coach Pui Ho Wang
Assistant coach Beto Fronza
Goalkeeping coach Fan Chun Yip

Source: [citation needed]

Current squad

First team

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

No.Pos. NationPlayer
20FW  HKGYau Cheuk Fung
22DF  HKGChan Yun Tung
23MF  HKGYung Ho
24MF  HKGJu Yingzhi
25GK  HKGNg Wai Him
26DF  HKGChan Hoi Pak
31GK  HKGNgan Ngo Tin
90FW  BRAJackson Sousa FP

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

Under-18's squad

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

No.Pos. NationPlayer
FW  BRARaphael Knorst Da Silva
 INDZubin Dhiman
 HKGKwong Pak Ho
 HKGLee Justin
 HKGNg Ka Yiu
 HKGNg Yui Cheung
 HKGTo Ngo Sam
 HKGTsang Ho Yiu
 HKGTsang Hok Lam
 HKGWong Yu Hei

Season-to-season record

SeasonTierDivisionTeamsPositionHome StadiumAttendance/GFA CupSenior ShieldLeague CupSapling Cup
2002–033Third District Division13Did not enterDid not enterDid not enterNot held
2003–043Third District Division
2004–053Third District Division
2005–063Third District Division164
2006–073Third District Division172
2007–083Third District Division162
2008–093Third District Division154
2009–103Third District Division142Not held
2010–112Second Division126Did not enter
2011–122Second Division122
2012–131First Division104Aberdeen Sports Ground554First RoundSemi-finalsNot held
2013–141First Division124Aberdeen Sports Ground
Mong Kok Stadium
434Semi-finalsSemi-finals
2014–152First Division153First RoundDid not enterDid not enter
2015–161Premier League94Aberdeen Sports Ground489Semi-finalsRunners-upGroup StageGroup Stage
2016–171Premier League113Aberdeen Sports Ground532Semi-finalsSemi-finalsDefunctSemi-finals
2017–181Premier League105Aberdeen Sports Ground493Semi-finalsSemi-finalsGroup Stage
2018–191Premier League103Aberdeen Sports Ground827Runners-upQuarter-finalsGroup Stage
2019–201Premier League105Mong Kok Stadium861Quarter-finalsQuarter-finalsRunners-up
2020–211Premier League85Aberdeen Sports Ground627Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemicGroup Stage
2021–221Premier League8CancelledAberdeen Sports Ground424Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemicCancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
2022–231Premier League105Aberdeen Sports Ground502Semi-finalsQuarter-finalsChampions
2023–241Premier League115Aberdeen Sports Ground332Quarter-finalsQuarter-finalsSemi-finals

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

Honours

League

Runners-up (1): 2011–12
Runners-up (3): 2006–07, 2007–08, 2009–10

Cup competitions

Runners-up (1): 2018–19
Runners-up (1): 2015–16
Champions (1): 2022–23
Runners-up (1): 2019–20
Champions (1): 2010–11

Managers

eSports

Southern District is the first Hong Kong football club of creating an eSports department. By partnering with Nova Esports, they signed Ronnie Yau as a FIFA player and Kevin Lau as a Pro Evolution Soccer player.[7]

References