Hong Kong keeper Yapp wants to play abroad, decade after mainland China move was blocked
City’s top stopper Yapp Hung-fai knows hopes of playing overseas are slimmer aged 35, but refuses to give up on dream
Yapp Hung-fai has said he still hopes to play abroad, 12 years after the dispiriting collapse of a transfer to mainland China.
In 2013, the Chinese Football Association blocked Yapp’s proposed move from South China to Guizhou Rehne, because of a Super League veto on foreign goalkeepers.
“In Hong Kong, we don’t have the resources and quality of China, Japan, or Korea,” Eastern No 1 Yapp said. “The level of training and matches is higher abroad, so I’d have improved, and had the feeling of being a professional goalkeeper. I still want to [go overseas], but as I get older, there’s less chance.”
It is testament to Yapp’s ability that Mateja Kezman, the former Chelsea and Atletico Madrid striker, said in 2011 that his then 21-year-old South China teammate could “have a future in Europe”.
“At that moment, I was good enough, but I’m not now … the gap between Europe and Asia is too big,” said Yapp, who believes his 5ft 10in (1.78 metres) height contributed to a lack of offers.
Yapp was forced into goal, as the youngest of a group of friends who played together, but he quickly grew hooked on making flying saves.