# 2015–16 Hong Kong Premier League

2015–16 Hong Kong Premier League (also known as BOCG Life Hong Kong Premier League for sponsorship reasons) is the 2nd season of Hong Kong Premier League, the top division of Hong Kong football.

## Teams

A total of 9 teams contested the league, including eight sides from the 2014–15 Hong Kong Premier League and one promoted from the 2014–15 Hong Kong First Division.

### Stadia and locations

Note: Table lists in alphabetical order.
| Team | Stadium | Location | District | Capacity |
| Dreams Metro Gallery | Sham Shui Po Sports Ground | Cheung Sha Wan | Sham Shui Po | 2,194 |
| Eastern | Mong Kok Stadium | Mong Kok | Yau Tsim Mong | 6,769 |
| Pegasus | Hong Kong Stadium | So Kon Po | Wan Chai | 40,000 |
| Kitchee | Mong Kok Stadium | Mong Kok | Yau Tsim Mong | 6,769 |
| Rangers | Kowloon Bay Park | Kowloon Bay | Kwun Tong | 1,200 |
| South China | Tseung Kwan O Sports Ground | Tseung Kwan O | Sai Kung | 3,500 |
| Southern | Aberdeen Sports Ground | Aberdeen | Southern | 4,000$^1$ |
| Wong Tai Sin | Hammer Hill Sports Ground | Choi Hung | Wong Tai Sin | 2,200 |
| Yuen Long | Yuen Long Stadium | Yuen Long | Yuen Long | 4,932 |
Remarks: $^1$The capacity of Aberdeen Sports Ground reduces from 9,000 to 4,000 as only the main stand is opened for football matches.

### Personnel and kits

| Team | Chairman | Head Coach | Captain | Kitmaker | Shirt sponsor |
| Dreams Metro Gallery | Lo Man Fai | Leung Chi Wing | Pablo Gallardo | Nike | Fu Ho Restaurant |
| Eastern | Lam Kin Ming | Chan Yuen Ting | Yapp Hung Fai | Adidas | — |
| Pegasus | Canny Leung | Lee Chi Kin | Kwok Kin Pong | Adidas | — |
| Kitchee | Ken Ng | Chu Chi Kwong | Lo Kwan Yee | Nike | Jockey Club Kitchee Centre |
| Rangers | Mok Yiu Keung | Yan Lik Kin | Beto | Xtep | Kunne |
| South China | Wallace Cheung | Ricardo Rambo | Chan Wai Ho | Adidas | Panasonic |
| Southern | Chan Man Chun | Cheng Siu Chung | José María Díaz | Nike | Kwoon Chung Motors（Home Jersey） Isuzu（Guest Jersey） |
| Wong Tai Sin | Ma Hung Ming | Chiu Chung Man Poon Man Chun | Yuto Nakamura | Joma | — |
| Yuen Long | Wong Wai Shun | Fung Hoi Man | Fábio Lopes | Nike | Itacho Sushi |

### Chairman changes

| Team | Outgoing Chairman | Date of vacancy | Incoming Chairman | Date of appointment |
| Dreams Metro Gallery | Khan Swadiq (as YFCMD) | 1 July 2015 | Lo Man Fai | 1 July 2015 |
| Pegasus | Cheng Ting Kong (as Pegasus) | 1 July 2015 | Canny Leung | 1 July 2015 |

### Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
| Yuen Long | Chan Ho Yin | Sacked | 3 May 2015 | Pre-season | Fung Hoi Man | 9 June 2015 |
| Kitchee | José Molina | Resigned | 27 May 2015 | Pre-season | Abraham García | 21 July 2015 |
| Eastern | Cristiano Cordeiro | Sacked | 1 June 2015 | Pre-season | Yeung Ching Kwong | 8 June 2015 |
| Southern | Fung Hoi Man | Signed by Yuen Long | 9 June 2015 | Pre-season | Cheng Siu Chung | 9 June 2015 |
| Pegasus | Chan Chi Hong | Resigned | 30 June 2015 | Pre-season | Lee Chi Kin | 8 July 2015 |
| Rangers | Yan Lik Kin | Return as Assistant Manager | 24 July 2015 | Pre-season | Ricardo | 24 July 2015 |
| Eastern | Yeung Ching Kwong | Signed by Meizhou Wuhua | 13 December 2015 | 1st | Chan Yuen Ting | 13 December 2015 |
| Rangers | Ricardo | Signed by South China | 2 March 2016 | 8th | Yan Lik Kin | 2 March 2016 |
| Kitchee | Abraham García | Resigned | 5 Mar 2016 | 2nd | Chu Chi Kwong | 5 Mar 2016 |
| South China | Casemiro Mior | Sacked | 13 Mar 2016 | 3rd | Ricardo | 13 Mar 2016 |

### Foreign players

The number of foreign players is restricted to six (including an Asian player) per team, with no more than four on pitch during matches.
| Club | Player 1 | Player 2 | Player 3 | Player 4 | Player 5 | Asian Player |
| Rangers | Mauricio | Paulo César | Quentin Lendresse | Dieguito | Ernesto Gómez | Gee Kyung-hun |
| Dreams Metro Gallery | Pablo Gallardo | Leonidas | Miroslav Saric | | | Kenji Fukuda |
| Eastern | James Meyer | Clayton | Diego Eli | Giovane | Michel Lugo | Andrew Barisic |
| Wong Tai Sin | Everton Camargo | Naves | Reinaldo | Mirko Teodorović | Yoon Dong-hun | Yuto Nakamura |
| Pegasus | Dhiego Martins | Eduardo Praes | João Emir | Kristijan Naumovski | Admir Adrović | |
| Southern | Tomas | Wellingsson | Diego Garrido | Jonathan Carril | José María Díaz | |
| Kitchee | Fernando | Dani Cancela | Fernando Recio | Jordi Tarrés | Rufino | Kim Tae-Min |
| South China | Luiz Carlos | Mahama Awal | Cristian Mora | Félix Borja | Bojan Mališić | Ryan Griffiths |
| Yuen Long | Fábio Lopes | Gustavo Silva | Luciano Silva | Stefan | Aleksandar Ranđelović | Park Chan-Jong |

#### Former players

| Club | Player 1 | Player 2 | Player 3 | Player 4 |
| Dreams Metro Gallery | Clayton | | | |
| Eastern | Miroslav Saric | Han Jae-woong | | |
| Pegasus | Dušan Martinović | Nejc Mevlja | Ivan Miličević | Dane Milovanović |
| Kitchee | Juan Belencoso | | | |
| Rangers | Santaiana | Panudech Maiwong | | |
| Southern | | | | |
| South China | Boima Karpeh | Lucas Silva | Murilo | |
| Wong Tai Sin | Leonidas | Kohei Ito | | |
| Yuen Long | José Cruz | | | |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Eastern | 16 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 35 | 13 | +22 | 38 | Qualification to Champions League group stage |
| 2 | Kitchee | 16 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 32 | 11 | +21 | 37 | Qualification to season play-off and Champions League preliminary round 2 |
| 3 | South China | 16 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 26 | 21 | +5 | 29 | Qualification to season play-off |
| 4 | Southern | 16 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 26 | 21 | +5 | 23 | Qualification to season play-off |
| 5 | Pegasus | 16 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 22 | 27 | −5 | 17 | Qualification to season play-off |
| 6 | Dreams Metro Gallery | 16 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 19 | 30 | −11 | 16 | Relegation to First Division |
| 7 | Yuen Long | 16 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 21 | 32 | −11 | 15 | |
| 8 | Rangers | 16 | 2 | 5 | 9 | 15 | 29 | −14 | 11 | |
| 9 | Wong Tai Sin | 16 | 2 | 5 | 9 | 17 | 29 | −12 | 11 | Relegation to First Division |
* ↑ Since the winners of the Senior Shield, Eastern, and the winners of the League Cup, Kitchee, qualified for AFC competitions and the Season Play-off respectively based on league position, the spots awarded to the Senior Shield winner and the League Cup winner for the Season Play-off were awarded to the third and fourth placed team in the league. Pegasus qualified as winners of the FA Cup.
* 1 2 Both Dreams Metro Gallery and Wong Tai Sin did not apply for the next season's Hong Kong Premier League Licence.
* 1 2 Rangers wins head-to-head against Wong Tai Sin.

## Positions by round

To preserve the chronological order of events, any postponed matches are not included to the round at which they were originally scheduled, but added to the full round they were played immediately afterwards. For example, if a match is scheduled for round 7, but then played between rounds 8 and 9, it will be added to the standings for round 8.
| Team ╲ Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| Eastern | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Kitchee | 1 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| South China | 6 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Southern | 4 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Pegasus | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Dreams Metro Gallery | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| Yuen Long | 9 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 |
| Rangers | 7 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 |
| Wong Tai Sin | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
* Leader - 2017 AFC Champions League play-off stage
* Relegation to 2016–17 Hong Kong First Division League

## Results

| Home \ Away | HKR | DMG | EAA | KCS | KIT | PEG | SCA | WTS | YLF |
| Rangers | | 0–0 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 3–2 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 1–1 |
| Dreams Metro Gallery | 1–1 | | 0–4 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 0–3 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 3–2 |
| Eastern | 4–0 | 1–0 | | 0–2 | 1–1 | 4–2 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 3–0 |
| Southern | 3–2 | 6–3 | 1–2 | | 1–1 | 3–3 | 2–3 | 2–0 | 2–0 |
| Kitchee | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | | 2–0 | 4–2 | 2–1 | 4–0 |
| Pegasus | 1–0 | 0–3 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 2–4 | | 0–2 | 2–0 | 1–1 |
| South China | 2–0 | 4–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 0–3 | 0–2 | | 2–1 | 2–1 |
| Wong Tai Sin | 3–3 | 3–2 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 | | 1–1 |
| Yuen Long | 3–1 | 2–1 | 1–6 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 2–2 | 4–1 | |

## Season statistics
### Scoring
#### Top Scorer

    As of 7 May 2016
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Giovane da Silva | Eastern | 10 |
| 1 | Admir Adrović | Pegasus | 10 |
| 3 | Andrew Barisic | Eastern | 7 |
| 3 | Alex Akande | Kitchee | 7 |
| 3 | Mahama Awal | South China | 7 |
| 6 | Quentin Lendresse | Rangers | 6 |
| 6 | Kenji Fukuda | Dreams Metro Gallery | 6 |

#### Hat-tricks

| Player | For | Against | Result | Date | Ref |
| Jordi Tarrés | Kitchee | Yuen Long | 4–0 | 12 September 2015 | |
| Giovane da Silva | Eastern | Yuen Long | 6–1 | 13 December 2015 | |

## Attendances

| Pos | Team | Total | High | Low | Average | Change |
| 1 | Eastern | 15,267 | 4,130 | 1,085 | 1,908 | +98.8%$^†$ |
| 2 | Kitchee | 12,751 | 3,630 | 694 | 1,594 | +6.5%$^†$ |
| 3 | South China | 9,105 | 2,292 | 461 | 1,138 | −18.6%$^†$ |
| 4 | Yuen Long | 8,611 | 1,418 | 647 | 1,076 | −9.6%$^†$ |
| 5 | Pegasus | 7,847 | 2,378 | 506 | 981 | −39.3%$^†$ |
| 6 | Dreams Metro Gallery | 6,697 | 1,131 | 551 | 837 | +10.1%$^†$ |
| 7 | Wong Tai Sin | 5,327 | 962 | 470 | 666 | −4.0%$^†$ |
| 8 | Southern | 3,915 | 780 | 308 | 489 | n/a$^1$ |
| 9 | Rangers | 3,814 | 966 | 271 | 477 | −1.6%$^†$ |
| | League total | 73,334 | 4,130 | 271 | 1,019 | −2.8%$^†$ |
Source: Notes: 1: Team did not play last season in the Premier League

## Hong Kong Top Footballer Awards

| Awards | Prize Winner | Club | Votes |
| Footballer of the Year | Yapp Hung Fai | Eastern | 75.84% |
| Coach of the Year | Chan Yuen Ting | Eastern | 50.64% |
| Young Players of the Year | Tan Chun Lok | Pegasus | 68.01% |
| Young Players of the Year | Li Ngai Hoi | Kitchee | 34.29% |
| Players' Player | Diego Eli | Eastern | 57.97% |
| Most Favorite Player | Kenji Fukuda | Dreams Metro Gallery | 3,011 |
| Hong Kong Top Footballers ||||
| Goalkeeper | Yapp Hung Fai | Eastern | 75.84% |
| Defenders | Beto Júnior | Eastern | 56.96% |
| Defenders | Lo Kwan Yee | Kitchee | 47.23% |
| Defenders | Cheung Kin Fung | South China | 42.17% |
| Defenders | Bojan Mališić | South China | 32% |
| Midfielders | Diego Eli | Eastern | 57.97% |
| Midfielders | Huang Yang | Kitchee | 44.42% |
| Midfielders | Fernando | Kitchee | 40.96% |
| Midfielders | Michel Lugo | Eastern | 36.13% |
| Forwards | Giovane | Eastern | 62.37% |
| Forwards | Rufino | Kitchee | 29.45% |