Hong Kong Football's Ambitious Challenge with Davor Suker

When John Morling arrived at the Hong Kong football association two and a half years ago, he asked a question that sounded fanciful to some and ambitious to others: Croatia can do it, so why can’t we?

Croatia, a nation of just under four million, has spent the past three decades punching holes in football’s established order – one World Cup final, two semi-finals, a conveyor belt of technical, fearless players. Hong Kong, with a population of around seven million and ranked 156th in the world, has spent the same period watching those tournaments from the outside. Even an expanded 64-team World Cup feels distant.

Now, one of the architects and symbols of Croatia’s rise is stepping into Hong Kong’s football orbit.

Davor Suker, the golden striker of France 98 and a former forward for Real Madrid and Arsenal, has been appointed honorary president of Hong Kong Premier League club Eastern District. It is a title that raised eyebrows across local football circles. Why Suker? Why Eastern District? What does an honorary president actually do for a club still fighting for relevance in its own city?

Suker, who now serves as a Fifa ambassador and recently sprang to the defence of president Gianni Infantino, insists this is not some random, parachuted appointment. Across nine years as president of the Croatian Football Federation, he built a close relationship with Eric Fok Kai-shan and Timothy Fok Tsun-ting, the current and former chairmen of the Football Association of Hong Kong, China. Those ties have now pulled him formally into the Hong Kong game.

During Suker’s tenure at the Croatian federation, which ended in 2021, Croatia reached the 2018 World Cup final in Moscow, losing only to France after a run that reinforced their reputation as the world’s outstanding overachievers. That period of success, built on a deep-rooted football culture and a sharp eye for talent, is exactly what Morling referenced when he first floated the “why not us?” challenge.

Now the question shifts slightly. With Suker in the building, even in an honorary role, can Hong Kong turn admiration of Croatia’s model into something more tangible – or will this remain another glamorous name attached to a project still searching for its breakthrough?