District Football Girls teams continue to thrive St Francis defends its HKJC N-League Cup title

19/02/2018

On 21 January 2018, the second HKJC N-League Cup was held at Shek Wu Hui Playground in Sheung Shui. After watching ten teams complete two rounds of an exciting competition, Ma Chak-shun, guest of honour and member of the Hong Kong Women’s National Football Team, witnessed St. Francis of Assisi’s College successfully defend its Cup title and Fung Kai No.1 Secondary School go undefeated in the finals to claim the Plate. Adding to the excitement this year was a Short Passing Challenge and an exhibition match featuring Ma, players and coaches.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club continually supports the development of girls’ football, providing schoolgirls with more tournament opportunities to train their physical and mental skills, and to help inject new blood into the sport. The HKJC N-League, the city’s first district-based inter-school girls’ football league, is now in its third season with eight schools participating. To extend the outreach to more girl football players, the Club sponsors the HKJC N-League Cup, which saw ten teams from seven schools competing this year. To further encourage the exchange of football skills across districts, Pui Ying College from Sha Tin district was invited to join the tournament. All teams had the opportunity to put their best foot forward.

The games and final of the HKJC N-League Cup were held in the morning and afternoon, respectively. Ten teams competed in a single, round-robin format over two rounds. The teams that were placed first, second and third in each round then entered the Cup final, while the rest competed for the Plate. In the Cup final, St. Francis beat De La Salle Secondary School N.T. and retained its Cup championship crown. Shatin Pui Ying College, the team that Richinn Ng, Best Player of the HKJC Soccer 4 played for, came in third place. And Fung Kai No. 1 Secondary School, led by Wong Wing-Yan, Best Player in the inaugural N-League, won all four of its matches to collect the Plate.

This year, a Manchester United Football Academy Short Passing Challenge was introduced. The Challenge tested players’ dribbling skills, explosiveness and accuracy in passing the ball, the results of which enabled them to understand their skill levels. Jenny Lai of SKH Chan Young Secondary School (Team A) and Li Yuk-Fei of De La Salle Secondary School, N.T. defeated the other players after obtaining four goals each.

The finale of the day was an exhibition match between the elite girls team of Ma Chak Shun and school footballers against the N-League coach team led by Christopher O’Brien, Head Coach from Manchester United Soccer Schools. With four more players on their team, the girls’ elite team conquered the coaches’ team-of-four by five goals. The audience thoroughly enjoyed the game.

Earlier in the month, Ma, who is now a university student, played for the city in the Guangdong-Hong Kong Cup. As she shared her personal story at the prize presentation ceremony, she revealed that the development of girls’ football was never a matter of attention during her secondary school days, giving her little chance to play. She was grateful to see the increase in girls’ football tournaments and a district-wide competition solely for girls. She reminded the girls to seize opportunities; enjoy every game, and push themselves to the limit to help contribute to the future of girls’ football development in Hong Kong.

 Final Result of HKJC N-League Cup 2018

Cup

Plate

Top Scorer

Short Passing Challenge (Top 2 only)