Latest news with #TanChunlok
South China Morning Post
22-07-2025
- Sport
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong stalwart Tan Chun-lok reveals gains from England stint, wants another shot
Midfield enforcer Tan Chun-lok has revealed how 3½ years in England toughened him physically and mentally, and the Kitchee player is eager for another shot at playing in Europe or on mainland China. After relocating to Brooke House Football Academy in 2009, Tan soon signed for Peterborough United. In summer 2011, he joined Northampton Town, around the same time as current Hong Kong head coach Ashley Westwood arrived as a first-team player. 'England helped me build my personality; it was my first time away from home and I grew as a person,' said Tan, who has 55 Hong Kong caps. 'It was hard at the start. I was used to my parents doing things for me, but I had to do my laundry, make sure I ate well, and manage my schedule. In England, you have so much freedom; I learned how to behave as a professional.' On the field, Tan encountered a 'really tough style'. 'I improved my aerial ability and my tackling in 50-50s, where people go in really hard,' he said. 'When I came back to Hong Kong, I was still young, but I had no fear of the foreign players or their physicality.'
South China Morning Post
08-07-2025
- Sport
- South China Morning Post
East Asian Football Championship: do Hong Kong really have no chance?
Ashley Westwood is a stickler for detail, so it was probably no accident that he exaggerated Hong Kong's underdog status on the eve of their first East Asian Football Championship match on Tuesday. 'We're playing three very good teams, two of the best-ranked teams in Asia, and China, a good, strong side,' the city's head coach said in Yongin, on the outskirts of Seoul, as he previewed the opening clash with Japan. As if to emphasise the gulf between his Hong Kong side and the rest, he went on to refer to '15th-ranked Japan, 23 [South] Korea, 93 China, and in the background is us, 159 currently'. In fact, Hong Kong have climbed to No 153 since Westwood took over last August, while China sit slightly lower than claimed, at 94, but the coach and his charges have eagerly cast themselves as happy-go-lucky tourists in their few public utterings since arriving in South Korea on Saturday. Tan Chun-lok (right) is put through his paces during training. Photo: HKFA The 'good, strong' billing Westwood gave China may come as a surprise to supporters of the struggling mainlanders, who began with a 3-0 loss to the Koreans on Monday.
