Memorabilia and 3am alarm calls – life as a Man City fan in Hong Kong and Korea
Manchester City fans in Hong Kong and South Korea have at least one thing in common: they’re a lot more popular than they used to be. The success of other teams, coupled with Korean excitement at Park Ji-Sung’s part in Manchester United’s dominance, meant that as much as both countries devoured English football City have only become popular in the last generation.
It was another player from the region that first attracted Cheng Hang Lun Eamonn to the Blues 21 years ago when he was in secondary school in Hong Kong. Picking a team on Pro Evo, he saw that ‘Man Blue’ had Chinese star Sun Jihai in their XI alongside a few other names he recognised.
A love story started there, even if it was mocked by his mates. “At that time my friends laughed at me as most of them were Man United or Liverpool fans. They just did not get why I would support a team with no champions,” he tells the Manchester Evening News.
“Back when I first started supporting them, City were barely even on the map for most Hong Kong football fans. You could barely find any official merchandise in local sports stores, and hardly any local bars would prioritise screening their matches unless it was a big cup tie.”
The same was true for Hui Jeong Lee over in South Korea. She started supporting the team during the Centurions season in 2017 when she saw how passionately her younger brother followed them and was told how everybody else at his school supported different teams.
“I made up my mind: I was going to be his ultimate football mate and support City right by his side,” she tells the Manchester Evening News. “What started as a way to support my brother has now turned into my own deep passion—in fact, I might even be the bigger fan now. It’s an origin story I’m incredibly proud of.”
The last two decades have changed everything. A trip to Hong Kong in 2019 studded with stars and led by Pep Guardiola – the last time the team travelled there – was important for making the most of the success of back-to-back Premier Leagues.
The team continued to be successful, and the Treble was enormous for catapulting the global audience of the club. It just so happened that they were in South Korea months later and everyone in Seoul went crazy for Erling Haaland and all of the champions.
Seeing the team up close is a rare treat, and most of the time fans have to deal with a punishing time difference if they want to watch City play. Unable to travel to the Etihad every week to support the players, fans in this area find other ways to show their colours.
“Most City matches kick off around 3am or 4am in Korea,” said Hui. “It’s never easy; I usually set multiple alarms to wake up, or sometimes I just stay up all night and head straight to work. It can be exhausting, but it’s a very common routine for overseas football fans in Korea.
“The reason I started collecting City merchandise is because I wanted to express my passion and love for the club, even from afar. Since the team I love is based in the UK and not Korea, I always felt a bit of distance. So, I decided I’m going to turn my own room into the Etihad Stadium! Just being surrounded by all those sky blue items fills me with pure happiness. I mean it sincerely.
“Among my collection, the item I treasure the most is hands down the shirt signed by the entire Manchester City squad. Every time I look at it, it gives me an immense sense of pride and joy as a Cityzen. It’s truly my number one treasure.”
For Eamonn, he is an hour closer to Manchester’s time and has Trafalgar – the Wan Chai pub that serves as headquarters of City’s supporter branch in Hong Kong to watch matches late at night. Like Hui, he has travelled to England to watch his team live on a few occasions but has enjoyed the rise of the team with his growing community of Blues.
“Now you can see City-themed jerseys everywhere on the streets during match weekends, there are regular watch parties held by the official Hong Kong City supporters club, and even younger fans who just started following football know about our recent treble wins and star players like Haaland and De Bruyne,” he said.
“All that success on the pitch under Guardiola really pulled in a lot of new fans here, no one can ignore how dominant we’ve been for over a decade now. For now I would say City are the among the top three or four most popular English clubs in Hong Kong, especially witnessing our growth in Pep era.”
City have felt enough love from Asia to travel out there in what has turned out to be the first friendlies of the Enzo Maresca era after 10 years with Guardiola. There is uncertainty over what will come next for the team, but they can count on rapturous support in the next two weeks whatever happens.
“Traveling all the way to Manchester is a huge commitment in terms of time and money for us,” said Hui. “The distance is exactly why we wake up in the middle of the night to watch every game. So, for the club to come visit us personally is, in my view, the ultimate proof of their respect for Korean fans. It is the best gift we could ever ask for.”
