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Southern District Recreation & Sports Assn Ltd (Chinese: 南區足球會), commonly known as Southern and currently known for sponsorship reasons as Kwoon Chung Southern, is a professional football club based in Southern District, Hong Kong. They currently compete in the Hong Kong Premier League.
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| Full name | Southern District Recreation & Sports Assn. Ltd. | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Aberdeeners | ||
| Founded | 2002 | ||
| Ground | Aberdeen Sports Ground | ||
| Capacity | 4,500 | ||
| President | Matthew Wong | ||
| Head coach | Yeung Ching Kwong | ||
| League | Hong Kong Premier League | ||
| 2023–24 | 5th | ||
| Website | http://www.sdfc.org.hk | ||
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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.[1]
In 2016–17, Southern finished third in the table, their highest position in club history.
Southern matched their table position from 2016 to 2017 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.[2]
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.[3]
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- 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 2018, the canopy of the main grandstand at Aberdeen Sports Ground was damaged due to Typhoon Mangkhut.[4] 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 2019.[5] 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.[6]
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Executive staff
| Position | Staff |
|---|---|
| Club president |  Chan Man Chun |
| Club chairman | Wong Cheuk Tim |
Source: [citation needed]
Coaching staff
| Position | Staff |
|---|---|
| Head coach | Yeung Ching Kwong |
| Technical director | Cheng Siu Chung |
| Assistant coach |  Beto Fronza |
| Assistant coach | Ju Yingzhi |
| Goalkeeping coach | Fan Chun Yip |
| Team manager | Pui Ho Wang |
| Physiotherapist | Leung Chak Kei |
| Physiotherapist | Chiu Chi Yat |
Source: [citation needed]
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First team
- As of 10 October 2024
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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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; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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| Season | Tier | Division | Teams | Position | Home Stadium | Attendance/G | FA Cup | Senior Shield | League Cup | Sapling Cup |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002–03 | 3 | Third District Division | 13 | Did not enter | Did not enter | Did not enter | Not held | |||
| 2003–04 | 3 | Third District Division | ||||||||
| 2004–05 | 3 | Third District Division | ||||||||
| 2005–06 | 3 | Third District Division | 16 | 4 | ||||||
| 2006–07 | 3 | Third District Division | 17 | 2 | ||||||
| 2007–08 | 3 | Third District Division | 16 | 2 | ||||||
| 2008–09 | 3 | Third District Division | 15 | 4 | ||||||
| 2009–10 | 3 | Third District Division | 14 | 2 | Not held | |||||
| 2010–11 | 2 | Second Division | 12 | 6 | Did not enter | |||||
| 2011–12 | 2 | Second Division | 12 | 2 | ||||||
| 2012–13 | 1 | First Division | 10 | 4 | Aberdeen Sports Ground | 554 | First Round | Semi-finals | Not held | |
| 2013–14 | 1 | First Division | 12 | 4 | Aberdeen Sports Ground Mong Kok Stadium |
434 | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | ||
| 2014–15 | 2 | First Division | 15 | 3 | First Round | Did not enter | Did not enter | |||
| 2015–16 | 1 | Premier League | 9 | 4 | Aberdeen Sports Ground | 489 | Semi-finals | Runners-up | Group Stage | Group Stage |
| 2016–17 | 1 | Premier League | 11 | 3 | Aberdeen Sports Ground | 532 | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Defunct | Semi-finals |
| 2017–18 | 1 | Premier League | 10 | 5 | Aberdeen Sports Ground | 493 | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Group Stage | |
| 2018–19 | 1 | Premier League | 10 | 3 | Aberdeen Sports Ground | 827 | Runners-up | Quarter-finals | Group Stage | |
| 2019–20 | 1 | Premier League | 10 | 5 | Mong Kok Stadium | 861 | Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Runners-up | |
| 2020–21 | 1 | Premier League | 8 | 5 | Aberdeen Sports Ground | 627 | Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic | Group Stage | ||
| 2021–22 | 1 | Premier League | 8 | Cancelled | Aberdeen Sports Ground | 424 | Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic | Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic | ||
| 2022–23 | 1 | Premier League | 10 | 5 | Aberdeen Sports Ground | 502 | Semi-finals | Quarter-finals | Champions | |
| 2023–24 | 1 | Premier League | 11 | 5 | Aberdeen Sports Ground | 332 | Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | |
| 2024–25 | 1 | Premier League | 9 | Aberdeen Sports Ground | Quarter-finals | |||||
Note: 1st or Champions 2nd or Runners-up 3rd place Promotion Relegation
League
- Runners-up (1): 2011–12
- Runners-up (3): 2006–07, 2007–08, 2009–10
Cup competitions
- Runners-up (1): 2018–19
- Runners-up (1): 2015–16
- 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.[7]
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