In 1968 the first Asian professional football league was started in Hong Kong. Skilled foreign football players such as George Best (ex-Northern Ireland national team) and Bobby Moore (ex-England national team) came to play so the football market was flourishing at that time. A lot of supporters came to the stadiums to watch high level football. This continued for twenty prosperous years after that. However after 1986 they excluded foreign players and the level of the Hong Kong league decreased. This system, which went on for three years, damaged Hong Kong football badly.
After that the league was influenced by economic depression and sponsors withdrew plunging it into a slump season. But Kitchee who are in the first division dared to invest in a big reinforcement and PR campaign. Also in the 2006-2007 season the famous South China won the champion after a seven year gap. The league’s popularity has almost been recreated.
The Hong Kong league is played with a first division of 10 teams and a second division of 11 teams. It starts in September and ends in April. Both of the leagues are played as round robin, with home and away games, to decide the champion.

 as of 31 July 2007