Seiko SA

Seiko

File:Seiko SA logo.png
Full name	Seiko Sports Association
Founded	1970
Dissolved	1986
Home colours Away colours

Seiko Sports Association (Chinese: 精工體育會) were one of the most famous and successful football teams in Hong Kong history. The team withdrew from the Hong Kong First Division League after the 1985–86 season.

History

Seiko was a team sponsored and named by the agents of Seiko Corporation. The team entered Hong Kong Third Division League in 1970. It got the second place in Third Division (B) League (28 matches: 26 win, 1 draw, 1 loss) and got promoted to Second Division in the next season. In 1971–72, the team captured the league Champion immediately after its promotion (24 matches: 21 win, 1 draw, 2 loss) and was able to compete in Hong Kong First Division League for the first time. The team then stayed in the league for 14 consecutive years.

Honours

Throughout the 14 years in the Hong Kong First Division League, Seiko captured 40 major Hong Kong football trophies, which included 9 times League champion, 8 times Hong Kong Senior Shield, 6 times Hong Kong Viceroy Cup, 6 times Hong Kong FA Cup and many more. Its reserve team also captured 2 times reserve league champion.

In 1986, Asian Champions Cup (now AFC Champions League) was re-introduced after its suspension after 1971. Seiko represented Hong Kong for the competition. In the qualifying round, Seiko beat Liaoning FC from China and April Twenty-Five F.C. from North Korea and qualified for the main round. However, the rules set by competition host Saudi Arabia were too harsh and Seiko withdrew from the competition.

Domestic

• Hong Kong First Division League
  • Winners (9): 1972–73, 1974–75, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1980–81, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1984–85
  • Runners-up (3): 1973–74, 1975–76, 1976–77

• Hong Kong Senior Challenge Shield
  • Winners (8): 1972–73, 1973–74, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1980–81, 1984–85
  • Runners-up (2): 1982–83, 1982–83

• Hong Kong FA Cup
  • Winners (6): 1974–75, 1975–76, 1977–78, 1979–80, 1980–81, 1985–86
  • Runners-up (1): 1978–79

• Hong Kong Viceroy Cup
  • Winners (6): 1972–73, 1977–78, 1978–79, 1983–84, 1984–85, 1985–86
  • Runners-up (2): 1975–76, 1976–77

Performance in AFC competitions

• Asian Club Championship: 1 appearance

Notable players

3

Norway

• (伊素亞) (1983–84)

Former coaches

• Chan Fai Hung ('新馬仔' 陳輝洪) (1970–85)
• George Knobel (盧保) (1981, 1983)

League results

Season	Position	Matches	Win	Draw	Loss	Goal For	Goal Against	Goal Difference	Points
1972–73	Champion	26	18	4	4	71	35	36	40
1973–74	2nd	26	17	4	5	75	36	39	38
1974–75	Champion	24	15	5	4	54	21	33	35
1975–76	2nd	22	13	4	5	46	22	24	30
1976–77	2nd	22	13	8	1	44	23	21	34
1977–78	4th	22	9	7	6	41	27	14	25
1978–79	Champion	22	19	3	0	60	14	46	41
1979–80	Champion	22	18	3	1	58	15	43	39
1980–81	Champion	20	13	5	2	46	12	34	31
1981–82	Champion	20	15	4	1	45	15	30	34
1982–83	Champion	18	12	4	2	31	13	18	28
1983–84	Champion	16	10	5	1	40	19	21	25
1984–85	Champion	16	12	3	1	37	12	25	27
1985–86	4th	18	7	7	4	35	23	12	21

Trivia

• Seiko was able to capture at least one champion each season.
• Seiko organised many different exhibition matches including against Brazil All-Stars, Club Atlético Boca Juniors from Argentina, AFC Ajax from the Netherlands and Hamburger SV from Germany.
• Seiko won Hong Kong First Division League for 7 consecutive times from 1978–79 to 1984–85.

References

• 香港足球總會九十週年紀念特刊