Full name | Eastern Athletic Association Football Team Limited (東方體育會足球隊有限公司) |
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Founded | 1932 |
Ground | Mong Kok Stadium |
Capacity | 6,664 |
Executive Director | |
President | Lam Kin Ming |
Coach | Szeto Man Chun |
League | Hong Kong Premier League |
2016–17 | 2nd |
Website | Club website |
Eastern Sports Club (Chinese: ), is a Hong Kong professional football and basketball club.
The football team is commonly known as Eastern Football Team (Chinese: 東方足球隊) (currently known for sponsorship reasons as Eastern Long Lions Football Team (Chinese: 東方龍獅足球隊)) and plays in the Hong Kong Premier League.
The club was established in 1932 as Eastern Athletic Association. In 2012 it changed its name to Eastern Salon Football Team for sponsorship reasons. In the 1981/82 season the club was managed by former England captain and World Cup winner Bobby Moore. Notable English players Alan Ball (1966 World Cup winner) played for the club during 1982/83 season, and Graham Paddon in 1982–1984. It was very successful in the 1990s and was renowned the names "Great Eastern" and "Eastern Dynasty". In 2006/07 season Eastern was demoted to Third Division League but was subsequently invited by Hong Kong Football Association to compete in First Division League for 2007/08 season after obtaining sufficient sponsorship. However, after competing in the top level league for two seasons, Eastern abandoned to play in the First Division League and applied to participate in the Third Division League in 2009/10 season. In the 2013/14 season, Eastern was promoted back to the First Division League as the champion of Second Division League.