Kitchee seal their thirteenth league title with thirteenth league win in a row- Kitchee 2 Rangers 0

Match summary

On the 12th April 2025, Kitchee fans left Tseung Kwan O Sports Ground after witnessing Kitchee get taken apart by Lee Man, with it being confirmed that coach Edgar Cardoso would leave at the end of the season. Exactly a year on, Kitchee celebrated winning their thirteenth league title, as goals from Leandro Martinez and Anson Wong secured victory, when a draw would have been enough. At one point on Sunday Kitchee could have won the title before even kicking off as North District led Lee Man 2-1 after 92 minutes, but a wild stoppage time period saw the game finish 3-3.

Team news

Callum Beattie was out injured, and along with Enikar, Thurain, Adrian and Kendy dropped out of the matchday squad. Bear, Jason, Tan Chun-lok, Merquelanz and Cheng Chin-lung came into the starting line up, with Kanda dropping to the bench.

Bear; Riera (Haddow 13), Jason, Dantas; Mingazow, Lok (c), Illarramendi, Lung, (Kanda 57), Merquelanz (Jordan 72); Juninho (Anson 72), Leandro

Unused subs: Wang, Law, Buddle, Slattery, Chan Shing-chun, Li Siu-hin

Match events

Early Kitchee pressure saw the ball get crossed in from both sides in one phase of play, but no one could get a clear contact on the ball. Jason headed over after a free kick was not cleared properly, before Ibrahim hit an acrobatic effort wide. As the first half wound to a close, Dantas pushed forward, and pinged the ball out to Mingazow on the right, who crossed the ball in for Leandro to score his tenth goal in all competitions, and his seventh since the start of March. Juninho went close to doubling the lead, but saw his effort tipped wide.

Juninho went close early in the second half, before Leandro shanked the rebound horribly wide. Ibrahim headed wide as Rangers had scarce opportunities to come back into it. With the game meandering towards a dull ending, fans in the crowd spent most of the second half celebrating Kitchee's impending league win. The win was wrapped up in stoppage time, as Illarramendi and Leandro Martinez helped tee up Anson Wong for his third Kitchee goal. 

Fan feedback

It was good to wrap the league up, with Lee Man's three draws in a row making the championship group redundant (as is the relegation group with HKFC so far adrift). It will be interesting to see how Kitchee use the final four games- could it be an opportunity to test out some younger players, or will the management be targeting an invincible season. There are some issues that will need addressing for the Asian Champions League 2 campaign next season, where there is the added layer of no foreign player restrictions (although there are rumours that the rule may change in Hong Kong too to make HKPL clubs more competitive. The two most pressing are the lack of pace at the back (when Jason is not playing) and Kitchee's inability to get shots away- too often Kitchee pass the ball around the edge of the box, and in the ACL2 time on the ball will be much more limited and Kitchee will need to be more efficient.

Riera's injury looks season-ending, and with Beattie also out it meant Jay Haddow played eighty minutes at right centre back. There is some concern that there might not be any senior centre back cover for the remainder of the season, subject to Beattie's recovery. Depth in this position has got to be a priority for the summer, especially with a three at the back formation.

It's safe to say the past two seasons were incredibly bleak by Kitchee's standards. A number of players came in and flopped, and such is the extent of the turnover that only five players remain from Kitchee's triumph in 2022/23- Wang won his 10th league title of his career this season, with Cheng Chin-lung (6) and Law Tsz-chun (5) also adding another to impressive collections. Ruslan Mingazow and Jason Kam both won their second HKPL title, after winning three years ago.

What's next

Four dead rubbers really for Kitchee up next, with attendances likely low and the only thing of note to play for is an invincible season. North District and Tai Po will probably rest starters to avoid injury prior to the FA Cup semi finals. The scheduling is not officially finalised but at the moment Kitchee's next game is against Lee Man at 6pm on the 18th April.

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Highlights