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| Full name | Yuen Long Football Club 元朗足球隊 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Tangerines Squire team (鄉紳班) | ||
| Founded | 1959 (asYuen Long District Sport Association) 2013 (asYuen Long Football Club) | ||
| Ground | Tin Yip Road Park | ||
| President | Wilson Wong | ||
| Chairman | Wong Tak Sun | ||
| Head coach | Yip Tsz Chun | ||
| League | Hong Kong First Division | ||
| 2023–24 | First Division, 6th of 12 | ||
| Website | https://www.facebook.com/BestUnionYUENLONG/ | ||
Yuen Long Football Club (Chinese:元朗足球隊), known asBest Union Yuen Long (Chinese:佳聯元朗) for sponsorship reasons, is aHong Kong professionalfootball club based inYuen Long which currently competes in theHong Kong First Division.
The football teams of the club were originally organised by Yuen Long District Sports Association (Chinese:元朗區體育會). In 2013, Yuen Long Football Club was established as a private entity, separate from the district sports association.
Yuen Long District Sport Association was established by former chairmen ofHong Kong Football Association, Fu Lee Sha and Tsang Sam Chiu in 1959.
The team entered the formerHong Kong Third Division in 1959–60 season. The team carried a three-year plan to get promotion toHong Kong First Division. In 1961–62, the team became the first district team to compete in First Division. In 1962–63, the team gained their first top Division League title. In 1967–68, the team captured their firstSenior Shield by beatingTung Sing. In 1968–69, the team turned professional until 1972–73 when it focused on a youth squad. In 1978–79, the team beat the league giantSeiko inFA Cup final, which avoidedSeiko from capturing all the 6 major trophies in the season. In 1979–80, the team quit the league due to financial problems.
With the creation of theHong Kong Third District Division, Yuen Long was reformed and entered the league in 2003.
They were promoted to theFirst Division in the 2013–14 season, as champions of theHong Kong Second Division, seven points ahead the runner-upHappy Valley. From 2013 to 2015, they were branded asI Sky Yuen Long due to the sponsorship from Simsen International Corporation Limited.
Yuen Long were branded asKMB Yuen Long between 2015 and 2017 due to a sponsorship agreement withKowloon Motor Bus. The agreement was terminated in June 2017.[1]Ahead of the2017–18 season, Yuen Long announced a sponsorship agreement with Sun Bus and rebranded asSun Bus Yuen Long.[2] The club captured their firstSenior Shield in 50 years, when they defeatedEastern 3–0 in the final. However, despite winning silverware, Sun Bus dropped their sponsorship of the club at the end of the season.[3] Eventually on 24 May 2018, club chairman Wilson Wong announced that the club had secured enough funding to continue in theHong Kong Premier League for 2018–19, although the club would have to rebuild their squad with mostly U-23 players.[4]
Ahead of the2018–19 season, Yuen Long were confirmed asBest Union Yuen Long for sponsorship reasons.[5]
On 12 June 2020, after 7 consecutive seasons in the top-flight, Yuen Long confirmed their withdrawal from participating in the 2020–21 HKPL season due to lack of funds after the2020 coronavirus pandemic in Hong Kong.[6] They would be playing in theHong Kong First Division League in the new season.
Chan Ho Yin (2012–2015)Fung Hoi Man (2015–2016)Tsang Chiu Tat (2016–2018)Kwok Kar Lok (2018–2019) Chan Man Chun (2019–2020)Kwok Kar Lok (2020)Yip Tsz Chun (2020–present)
