Southern District Fc

They currently compete in the Hong Kong Premier League.

Southern

Full name	Southern District Recreation & Sports Assn. Ltd.
Nickname(s)	The Aberdeeners
Founded	2002; 22 years ago (2002)
Ground	Aberdeen Sports Ground
Capacity	4,500
President	Matthew Wong
Head coach	Yeung Ching Kwong
League	Hong Kong Premier League
2022–23	5th of 10
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours

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.

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

Southern matched their table position from 2016–17 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.

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.

• 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)

 

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 of 2018, the canopy of the main grandstand at Aberdeen Sports Ground was damaged due to Typhoon Mangkhut. 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 of 2019. 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.

Executive staff

Position	Staff
Club president	Chan Man Chun
Club chairman	Wong Cheuk Tim

Coaching staff

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

First team

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 Choy Tsz To 4 DF   JPN Kota Kawase FP 5 DF   BRA Júnior Goiano FP 6 MF   BRA Kessi FP 7 FW   HKG Stefan Pereira 8 MF   HKG Lee Ka Yiu 11 MF   JPN Shu Sasaki (captain) FP 12 DF   HKG Tomas Maronesi 13 DF   HKG Leung Yau Wai 15 MF   HKG Lai Kak Yi 16 DF   HKG Chak Ting Fung 17 MF   FRA Raphaël Merkies FP 18 FW   HKG Mahama Awal

No. Pos. Nation Player 19 MF   HKG Sohgo Ichikawa (on loan from Kitchee) 20 FW   HKG Yau Cheuk Fung 21 MF   HKG Ma Man Ching 22 DF   HKG Chan Yun Tung 23 MF   HKG Yung Ho 24 MF   HKG Ju Yingzhi 25 GK   HKG Ng Wai Him 26 DF   HKG Chan Hoi Pak 28 MF   HKG Chen Ngo Hin (on loan from Kitchee) 31 GK   HKG Ngan Ngo Tin 33 MF   JPN Ryoo Togashi FP 77 GK   HKG Leonardo Costa 90 FW   BRA Jackson 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. Nation Player — GK   HKG Chan Hiu Tsung — DF   HKG Cheung Lok Man — DF   HKG So Cheuk Hin — DF   USA Jett Jewett — DF     NEP Reeyaz Gurung — MF   HKG Lai Wai Chun — MF   IND Mann Suresh Nankani — FW   ENG Sami Brown — FW   HKG Cheung Ho Kiu — FW   HKG Leung Min Hyn — FW   HKG Chong Tsun Aidan

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW   BRA Raphael Knorst Da Silva —   IND Zubin Dhiman —   HKG Kwong Pak Ho —   HKG Lee Justin —   HKG Ng Ka Yiu —   HKG Ng Yui Cheung —   HKG To Ngo Sam —   HKG Tsang Ho Yiu —   HKG Tsang Hok Lam —   HKG Wong Yu Hei

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

League

• Hong Kong Second Division

Runners-up (1): 2011–12

• Hong Kong Third District Division

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

Cup competitions

• Hong Kong FA Cup

Runners-up (1): 2018–19

• Hong Kong Senior Shield

Runners-up (1): 2015–16

• Hong Kong Sapling Cup

Champions (1): 2022–23
Runners-up (1): 2019–20

• Hong Kong Junior Shield

Champions (1): 2010–11

•   Cheng Siu Chung (2006–2008)
•   Fung Hoi Man (2009–2015)
•   Cheng Siu Chung (2015–2020)
•   Pui Ho Wang,   Cristiano Cordeiro (2020)
•   Zesh Rehman (2020–2022)
•   Cheng Siu Chung (2022–2023)
•   Yeung Ching Kwong (2023–present)

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.