Hong Kong female star playing against English Premier League men as she chases pro dream
A 17-year-old Hong Kong girl has been playing football against all-male teams, including the academy of Premier League surprise-package Nottingham Forest, as she chases her professional dream in the UK.
Lucia Ko Pak-ling is among a handful of girls at the Brooke House College Football Academy, where she moved to play and study in 2022. Also on the books of Derby County Women, Ko lines up alongside her male college peers against the likes of Forest and English Football League academy teams Northampton Town and Burton Albion.
“The level is very high and the men are faster and stronger, so I have to think quicker and focus on small details, like my first touch and the next movement,” Ko said.
“I need to use my brain, because there’s so much to compute in a split second, and it has been really beneficial for me.”
Ko said the male players welcomed their female counterparts, but “they can get so emotional and angry that, sometimes, it’s difficult to communicate with them”.
The forward, who played for Chelsea Soccer School, was recommended to Brooke House, the alma mater of men’s representative team players Tan Chun-lok and Jacky Leung Nok-hang, by one of her Hong Kong under-16 coaches.
Ko joined the college alongside another Hong Kong talent, Ng Yu-hei, 18, who recently transferred from Eastern to Chongqing Tonglianglong in China League One.
“I want to play football professionally, my parents saw my passion and how hard I was working for this career, so they supported me,” said Hong Kong U19 player Ko. “I wasn’t scared of going, because I wanted to develop out of my comfort zone. I was a little girl when I came here, so I missed my family and the food from home … it rains every day, and it’s windy and cold, you can’t breathe when you run, but I have adapted to everything.”
Brooke House, located in England’s Midlands, has tight links with multiple professional clubs, while the college’s technical director is Micky Adams, the former Leicester and Brighton manager. Ko was quickly snapped up by Derby – whose men’s side are in the Championship – and plays for the development team while she trains twice a week.
In the classroom, she is targeting minimum C grades in her business, mathematics and PE A Levels to qualify for a business and PE degree. However, Ko will shelve university plans if her football accelerates.
Her Derby side compete in the Reserve Midland League of the FA Women’s National League. To reach the promised land of the English Women’s Super League, Ko said she needed to “become stronger and make [on-field] decisions faster”.
“Derby do so much to help us reach the [required] level; they have a fitness coach and we work on everything we need in the gym,” she added.
Ko said the increasing number of girls’ teams in Hong Kong, coupled with the 1,500-plus crowd that watched the senior women’s team beat Indonesia last year, showed “more people in the city are recognising women’s football”.
Leung Kwun-chung, who manages women’s first division team Citizen, together with playing for men’s FA Cup holders Eastern, recently told the Post he believed Hong Kong’s women could beat the men to Fifa World Cup qualification.
Ko estimated it would take around a decade for the city team to mature into World Cup qualifiers. She will be 24 and 28 for the 2031 and 2035 finals, respectively.
“We can get there and I hope I will play in a World Cup for Hong Kong,” Ko said. “First, I have so much to work on, and coming to England was the right decision for my development.”
https://www.scmp.com/sport/football/article/3297271/hong-kong-female-star-playing-against-english-premier-league-men-she-chases-pro-dream