South China AA

22°16′32″N 114°11′15″E﻿ / ﻿22.275644°N 114.187539°E﻿ / 22.275644; 114.187539
South China Athletic Association (known simply as South China, SCAA, Chinese: 南華體育會) is a Hong Kong professional sports club with a football team competing in the Hong Kong First Division, the second-tier league in Hong Kong football league system.
The Chinese Football Team was founded in 1904 by a group of Chinese students in Hong Kong, including Mok Hing (Chinese: 莫慶) and Tong Fuk Cheung (Chinese: 唐福祥, the captain of China national football team in the 1910s).
In 1910, the team was renamed as South China Football Club and formally adopted the present name of South China Athletic Association in the 1920s.
Amid the post-WWII competition from league rivals like Eastern, Kitchee, Seiko, KMB, Sing Tao, Jardine, Lai Sun, Bulova, Happy Valley and Double Flower, SCAA had a long and successful time in the top-tier league.
In Asian competitions, South China were runners-up in the 1993–94 Asian Cup Winners' Cup final against Al Qadsiah, after having lost 2-6 on aggregate. Nonetheless, this is to date still the best result for Hong Kong clubs in Asian competitions.
Outside Hong Kong and Asia, South China not only played well in international club friendlies against Santos, Juventus, Tottenham Hotspur and LA Galaxy, they also had produced many great Hong Kong footballers over the years.
With a heavily strengthened squad and coaching staff team, South China achieving the famous treble in the 2006–07 season, with continued domestic success and a semi-final appearance in the 2009 AFC Cup.
Ahead of the 2014–15 season, AET chairman Wallace Cheung became the chairman of the club, promising to spend $18–20 million per season.
However, South China's performance in the HKPL era had suffered, as they struggled to keep up against rivals Kitchee and Eastern.
On 5 June 2017, South China announced their self-relegation into the First Division and parted ways with Cheung, fielding an amateur squad with young players ever since.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Historically, the most popular club in the city, SCAA is also the most successful football club in Hong Kong.
In November 2001, the team was awarded the AFC Team of the Month by the Asian Football Confederation.
As of 30 May 2014. Only competitive matches are counted. Wins, losses and draws are results at the final whistle; the results of penalty shoot-outs are not counted.
Under former chairman, Steven Lo, South China had reinvented their image and partnered with several organisations and brands to reignite interest in Hong Kong football.
In 2007, South China entered into a partnership with Hong Kong Red Cross.
The partnership is a pioneer between a sports association and a humanitarian organisation in Hong Kong.
South China is the first football team to ever bear the Red Cross emblem on the official kit.
South China previously appointed Giorgio Armani as their official tailor.
In celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the establishment of South China Football Team, world-renowned designer Philippe Starck produced a special edition of the "Peninsula Chair", with the faces of the team and the chairman printed on.
On 3 November 2009, South China and Tottenham Hotspur jointly announced a club partnership in Hong Kong.
South China became the first club partner of Spurs in Asia. The partnership was for 2 years with an option to extend further.
Besides planning inandring of best practice in any areas of the technical and business sides of football, Tottenham had the first option on South China players at all age levels and supported South China's coaching development through the exchange of scientific data, coaching materials and visits of coaching staffs to and from both teams.
The two clubs explored the possibility of a joint youth Academy and training centre in Hong Kong or in mainland China.
A new official cheering song for SCAA. It was introduced in the first home match in the 2006–07 season against HKFC.
The demo version of the song can be accessed on www.bma.com.hk.
It was sung by Albert Cheung (張武孝, also known as 大AI or Big Al), and became very well known after being released during the late 1970s and the 1980s, when they're a perennial challenger for the top spots in the league.
Since its foundation, South China had a Chinese only policy whereby the club would only field players of Chinese ethnicity.
In keeping with this policy, the club would only sign foreign players who had Chinese ancestry such as Edmund Wee, Chow Chee Keong and Chan Kwok Leung.
Up until the 1980s, the policy did not have a negative effect on results. However, when professional football took off in Hong Kong, the club could not cope with the influx of foreign players and performed poorly at the beginning of the 1981–82 season.
Therefore, on 2 November 1981, the club voted to end its six decade old Chinese only policy.
On 6 June 1982, after the club drew an all-important match with Caroline Hill that relegated them, the fans rioted outside the stadium that spread onto Causeway Bay. The riot was the largest civil disorder in Hong Kong since the leftist riot in 1967, prompting the HKFA to intervene.
South China was to be relegated for the first time since 1983 as they failed to beat Citizen in the last game of the 2005–06 season. However, on 14 June, the Hong Kong Football Association approved a request from South China to remain in the First Division with the promise of strengthening their squad.
Aside from football, SCAA fields other sports teams, including but are not limited to, basketball, volleyball, swimming, shooting and archery. They field youth teams in the name of "Nam Ching", meaning "SCAA Youth" in Chinese.