Football is by far the most popular sport in Hong Kong (see a recent survey by the Census and Statistics Department, 2011). In 2009 the government agreed to improve local football development and to bring one of the AFC founding members back to old glory, by what was named “Project Phoenix”.
6 years later, we can let the statistics of the current 2018 World Cup Qualifier group speak for themselves:
POPULATION:
Hong Kong: 7.1 million
Qatar: 2.1 million
Bhutan: 750,000
Maldives: 350,000
ATTENDANCE:
Bhutan vs China (Attendance: 10,000)
Maldives vs Qatar (Attendance: 9,000)
Qatar vs China (Attendance: 7,730)
Bhutan vs Maldives (Attendance: 7,000)
HONG KONG vs China (Attendance: max. 6,600)
CAPACITY OF HOME STADIUM:
Bhutan: 25,000
Qatar: 15,000
Maldives: 11,850
Hong Kong: 6,600
Ouch!
Source: soccerway.com, Wikipedia
