The first woman to lead a top-flight Hong Kong side, Chan Yuen-ting blazes a new trail in the men’s football world
It may just be a practice match for training but the men on the pitch are intent on winning. The football bangs into a goal post before the whistle blows. The rivalry is immediately tossed aside as the men gather together in the centre circle. After all, they are teammates and in their midst is a young woman, patting the players on their backs.
She is Chan Yuen-ting, nicknamed Beefball for her insistent personality, and she is head coach of the local top flight football side Eastern Sports Club. At the age of 27, Chan is both the first female head coach of a men’s team in the Hong Kong Premier League and the league’s youngest head coach.
It may seem surprising that the macho world of professional men’s football would accept a young woman as team boss. Indeed, reactions were mixed when 
Chan was appointed to succeed Yeung Ching-kwong, who moved to become assistant coach of the Meizhou Hakka F.C. in December last year. But Leung Shou-chi, Eastern’s Executive Director and a veteran in the game, says giving Chan the job was a no-brainer.
“I took one minute to decide (appointment of Chan),” says Leung. He adds that Chan was the only candidate for the job who possessed the Asian Football Confederation’s “A” Coaching Certificate.
Chan is an undisputed rising star in local football. Before joining Eastern, she was assistant coach at Hong Kong Pegasus FC and Southern District. At Pegasus, she was also a data analyst. The promotion to the top job at one of Hong Kong’s leading teams brings great pressure for the rookie head coach, but so far the signs are good.
“I am so surprised that the players support me very much and we just won the [Senior Challenge] Shield,” says Chan. She believes the victory was possible because they pulled together as a team despite the changes in personnel.
Chan’s extraordinary journey started from a youth summer scheme for football which she joined for fun. It was the summer before she entered secondary four but she can still recall her first touch of the ball.“(The first time) playing football, I can remember it well… It was on a concrete pitch in Sha Tin. That was how I started playing football and then coaching up till now.”
“Actually, I think it was kind of love at first sight,” says Chan, reflecting on the early days of her enthusiasm for football. “At the beginning, I adored David Beckham very much, so I started watching football matches. Then, I felt football seemed to be fun to play and so I applied for that scheme to learn how to play football.”
Chan says her early playing days went well and her passion for the game grew. She believes her natural ability may have helped her to develop a long-term interest in football. “Maybe I was an innate sportswoman, so I started well. It was because I started well, playing football gave me a sense of achievement,” she says. The joy she gets from football continuously drives Chan to devote her time and efforts into the sport for the decade since her first kick of the ball.
However, Chan’s love of the game did not distract her from studying and after secondary school, she entered the department of Geography and Resource Management of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). Chan never imagined she would pursue a career in professional football, but at CUHK she found herself spending much of her time on football. “Once I entered CUHK, I already put my studies on the second place,” she says, “I don’t think I am a diligent student in my department.”
Chan played for CUHK’s women’s soccer team, the district football team of Sha Tin, as well as the Hong Kong team. “I played football for five to six days a week. I put so much time in football that my studies in university did not go as well as in secondary school.”
Although her academic performance in her three years of undergraduate study suffered, Chan says she has no regrets, “because I obtained a lot from football.”
After completing her undergraduate degree, Chan decided to study for a Master of Science and Postgraduate Diploma in Sports Medicine and Health Science from CUHK. It was then that she decided to develop a career in the professional football field.
She is glad that her family supported her decision to further her study in sports. “I took a loan to pay the tuition fee for my bachelor’s degree and master’s degree and my family did not need to pay for my studies so I was free to do what I liked,” says Chan.
Chan’s extensive knowledge in Sports Medicine and Health Science helps her to carry out data research. It also helps makes up for her lack of experience as a professional footballer. She analyses the performance of her own players’ and that of their opponents and collects masses of data from each match.
Through the match data on players, their stamina data, the pre-match and post-match analysis of tactics, Chan can assess whether players are in form or not. “These help me understand the needs of modern football,” says Chan.
Data analysis has become a feature of modern football and clubs employ analysts and pay good money for the data. But Chan carries out much of the analysis herself and uses it to make practical decisions for Eastern’s matches.
Yet football is as much a game of the heart as it is of the intellect and many may find it hard to believe how this young woman, who has never been a professional player herself can win the respect of players or her own age or older. So far, this does not appear to have been a problem.
Chan has close and friendly relationships with the players, partly due to her naturally outgoing personality but more importantly, due to her willingness to learn from the experienced players and her colleagues on the coaching team.
“My colleagues used to be professional players and many of the Eastern players are in the Hong Kong team. Their experiences on the field are very useful and I think having suitable communication with them would help my coaching a lot,” says Chan.
Andrew Barisic, a 29 year-old Australian striker says Chan and the players have mutual respect for each other, adding that players need to be able to relate with their coach on an emotional level and not just discuss the matches.
“If there is any problem, the players feel open to talk her (Chan). If you don’t have that relationship, the players sometime maybe get a bit upset or they can’t voice their opinion about something so it is really good that she accept everyone to be able to talk to her,” says Barisic.
Chan readily admits she has disadvantages – mainly her lack of professional playing experience. But she works hard to make up for it through her people skills and her technical knowledge of the 
game. She watches and studies the careers and performance of Barclays Premier League club managers – the tactics of former Chelsea boss José Mourinho, the short-pass style of play employed by Bayern Munich’s Pep Guardiola and the man-management skills of Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp win her admiration.
“I don’t know if I can imitate them, but I will try to study them,” says Chan.
There are drawbacks to being a female coach but Chan says she cannot do much to change them and instead she must work with them. Besides, she says there some advantages too. “Female coaches are usually more attentive and patient,” she says. “I think the way that men and women perceive things, are always different and on the coaching team, it is better to have males and females to complement each other.”
Chan is determined to continue her coaching career in the foreseeable future. Further down the line, she acknowledges she may have to face the challenges of balancing her career with family responsibilities.
“But at this stage, when I can still invest time in football, I would not miss any chance,” says Chan.
Her passion for the beautiful game is what drives her forward, but Chan also appreciates the support she receives from fans. Among Hong Kong Premier League sides, Eastern enjoys relatively high attendances at their matches. “They always buy tickets to support us, making the atmosphere better. And our motivation becomes greater as well,” says a grateful Chan.
Her gratitude, for the opportunities she has been given and for the responsibility that has been entrusted in her, motivates Chan Yuen-ting, Beefball, to continuously raise her game. “Hong Kong’s football has given me a lot… Hopefully, one day I can serve Hong Kong’s football,” says Chan.
Edited by Kate Kim
