When John Morling arrived at the Football Association of Hong Kong, China 2½ years ago, he looked at Croatia and posed a simple, pointed question: “Why can’t that be us?”
On paper, the comparison sounded ambitious, maybe even outlandish. Croatia, with a population just under 4 million, have reached one World Cup final and two semi-finals in the past 28 years. Hong Kong, with around 7 million people, sit at world No 156 and remain nowhere near a World Cup berth, even with the tournament set to swell to 64 teams.
Yet the Croatian blueprint is about to gain a far more tangible presence in the city.
Davor Suker, one of the icons of that golden 1998 Croatia side that stormed to the World Cup semi-finals, has stepped into Hong Kong football as honorary president of Hong Kong Premier League club Eastern District. The title raised eyebrows. The intent behind it did not.
Suker is no ceremonial figure in the game’s politics. The former Real Madrid and Arsenal striker served nine years as president of the Croatian Football Federation, a spell that culminated in Croatia’s run to the 2018 World Cup final. He now works as a Fifa ambassador and this week publicly backed Fifa president Gianni Infantino, leaping to his defence on Thursday.
His move into the Hong Kong club game is rooted in relationships forged well away from the pitch. Suker explained that he had grown close to Eric Fok Kai-shan and Timothy Fok Tsun-ting, the current and former chairmen of the Football Association of Hong Kong, China, during his time at the helm of Croatian football. Those connections have now opened a door between one of the world’s great overachievers and a footballing outpost still searching for its identity.
For Hong Kong, the symbolism is hard to ignore. Croatia have built a global reputation on tight resources, elite coaching and a relentless competitive edge. Hong Kong, despite a larger population, have yet to turn potential into anything resembling that kind of impact.
Morling’s question still hangs in the air. With Suker now in the room, the challenge is no longer imagining why it can’t be them, but whether they are ready to do what Croatia did to make it possible.
