Middle East conflict pauses dream of Hong Kong footballer taught by Iniesta, Gundogan
Part of recent city team under-20 camp, Ryan Fok was playing his best football with Dubai’s Gulf United before war put things on hold
A young Hong Kong footballer who has received personal guidance from Andres Iniesta and Ilkay Gundogan has had to pause his promising career because of the Iran war.
Ryan Fok Jun-hei was in Dubai, where he plays for Gulf United, when the war began one day after he turned 19 on February 27.
“It was scary for the first few days but you get used to it,” Fok said.
“Alerts sound whenever there’s a potential missile threat and you stay inside. The UAE defence system is pretty good; we believed nothing would hit and we carried on playing and training. The worrying part is the potential of debris falling on you.”
Fok’s parents were briefly stranded in Dubai after travelling to spend their son’s birthday with him, but the family left in mid-March in time for Ryan to join a Hong Kong under-20 training camp in Thailand.
He is training with private coaches in his home city as he waits for clearance to return to the United Arab Emirates.