South China AA 2019-20 Home (#8- YE) Jersey/Shirt
£29.99
This is an Adidas South China AA 2019-20 home jersey featuring the number of veteran midfielder Ye Jia.
South China AA is one of Hong Kong’s oldest and most successful clubs having been founded in 1904 by a group of Chinese students in Hong Kong. They first competed in the top tier of Hong Kong football in 1918 and won their first league title in the 1923-24 season. Since then, South China have won a total of 41 first tier league titles and 31 Hong Kong Senior Shield titles, comfortably more than any other club. They also have done well at continental level, reaching the Asian Cup Winners’ Cup (the precursor to the AFC Champions League) final in 1993-94 and making the Quarter-finals of the AFC Cup in 2015 & 2016. Although South China continued to achieve solid results throughout the 2010s, they made the shocking announcement in 2017 that the club would voluntarily self-relegate to the Hong Kong First Division (the 2nd tier) due to the departure of the club’s conveyor Wallace Chung, which left them with no financial benefactor to support their salary budget. Since then, South China have finished mid-table in the second tier with a squad largely comprised of young amateur players.
Ye Jia is a veteran of Hong Kong football and has competed in the Hong Kong football system since joining Hong Kong Rangers in 2006. Ye was raised in Shanghai and began his career with China League Two club Shanghai Jiucheng in 2003 before moving to Hong Kong. After one season at Rangers he transferred to Tai Po in 2007 and began a club legend in his ten seasons playing for ‘The Greens.’ He retired from professional football in 2017, however returned to join South China as an amateur player and is currently their most experienced player. At international level, Ye has six caps for Hong Kong and made his debut in 2010 after becoming eligible following two years of residency in Hong Kong.