The Next Decade - Kitchee's ten-year development b

2013 marks the 82nd anniversary of Kitchee Sports Club and its tenth year since returning to the First Division. In the past ten years, the team has recorded 2 league titles, 3 League Cup titles and 2 FA Cup wins. This year, we made club history by reaching the quarter-finals of the AFC cup and are striving to make further progress. The club has also made great strides in social service, youth development and became more internationally minded. All in all, Kitchee has made significant progress in the last decade. If the first decade in the top flight can be considered a period of development, then the next decade will be key to our club’s transformation from a local team to a regional powerhouse. We are actively planning our development blueprint for the next ten years. Apart from internal consultation with team coaches and staff members, we have also shared our thoughts with sponsors and supporters. With their support and co-operation, the blueprint is coming to fruition. In the ten years from now, we will aim to become a 'better, stronger, more professional and more resilient' Kitchee. Hong Kong Fight! Reaching New Heights · Although our efforts in defending the league crown has failed in last season, Kitchee still enjoyed a seasonably successful season, defending the FA cup, reaching the last 8 of the AFC cup and secured qualification for the 2014 AFC Cup. · In the new season, we have set our sights on not only the domestic front but also on the AFC Cup. Kitchee will enjoy home advantage should we reach the final and the prospect of playing in front of a 40,000 capacity crowd has only added to our determination to win. · With the full support of Nike, from now on Kitchee will be able to use a brand new blue ‘Hong Kong Fight!’ motif for motivational and promotional purposes whenever we represent Hong Kong. · Kitchee will strive to do its best for Hong Kong. In addition, we aim to raise the image of Hong Kong Football and promote the Hong Kong Fight! spirit at club level. Beyond Victory - Striving for Professional Management Winning championships with style has always been our goal and responsibility. In order to take the club to another level, Kitchee's future target is to turn ourselves into a self-sustaining professional football club, achieving finance and management independence, mirroring the management structure of other successful clubs around the world. This is also the reason why we will begin using Nike's new slogan, 'Beyond Victory', meaning Kitchee as a club has evolved beyond purely chasing victory on the pitch year after year. We believe success off the pitch in terms of management and operations will naturally lead to success on the pitch. To fulfill the licensing requirements of the new league and Asian competitions, Kitchee are determined to improve the quality of our management, to become more systematic and professional, with aims to operate in a way more in line with the successful clubs around the world. Kitchee’s long-term aim is to become a top-level Asian club and participate regularly in the Asian Champions League. In order to achieve this, we will need a stronger team both on and off the pitch. In the coming season, we will create two new posts – General Manager and Strategic Marketing Director - to further drive the team's management administrative side. We have already hired Miss Irene Lo as Director of Strategic Marketing. Kitchee’s office will be relocated from sharing Mr Ken Ng’s office to Room 1001-1004, The Broadway, 52-62 Lockhart Road, Wanchai. In the long-term, we will separate the roles of the owner(on investor), operations management and technical management. Club President Ken Ng can then devote his attention on the club's future development. In the future, we expect the club's revenue stream will come from three main sources: ticket sales, sponsorships and transfer fees. This will help the club attain a more stable and healthy financial situation. New Coach, New Players, A Better Team Coaches Josep Gambau and Pau Marti have already left the club and we wish them every success in their new venture in Australia. Their departure is not only proof of their ability, but also proof that our approach in the past few years has been a success. In the coming years, we will continue using the latest footballing principles in order to strive for success on the pitch. Alex Gomez will officially start his tenure as Kitchee Head Coach today, and Yago Aguilar will be Technical Director of Youth Development. In the future, Chu Chi-Kwong will be more involved in his post of Director of Football, and together with Gomez and Aguilar, they are in charge of improving technical standards at all levels. In the A team coaching structure, Alex Gomez will be supported by assistant coaches Ricky Cheng Sin Siu-chung and Roberto Losada. Furthermore, we will continue our collaboration with The Hong Kong Jockey club Sports Medicine and Health Sciences Centre. In addition to our previous conditioning trainer Mr Justin Lee, we will add another experienced team member Chan Chun-kwan. This arrangement will only benefit the team to prepare for their future challenges. We have also added a number of new members in the players for the coming season, including a new striker from Spain. Other new recruits include familiar faces like Xu Deshuai, Christian Annan, Alex Akande and To Hon-To. We will have 22 players in our playing squad next season, including 5 expatriate players and 1 Asian expatriate. In order to prepare for the friendly match against Manchester United, the team will hold a training camp in mid-July in Shanghai and will play 3 friendly matches there. With the help of Mr Xu Genbao, confirmed friendly opponents include Shanghai All-China Games Team on 17 July and China Super League team Shanghai East Asia FC on 21 July. Another match on 19 July is currently being arranged with the assistance of Mr Xu. Youth Development and Determined Targets Youth player Li Ngai-Hoi, student of Yan Chai Hospital Tung Chi Ying Memorial Secondary School, has just completed a successful trial at Chinese league club Dalian Aerbin. Dalian Aerbin would like to keep him in their ranks and have offered to sign a long-term loan contract. The clubs are currently in negotiations and we are expecting good news. The success of Li Ngai-Hoi is one of the successful example of our youth development programme. Kitchee will continue to co-operate with Yan Chai Hospital Tung Chi Ying Memorial Secondary School in its youth football academy scheme, and we aim to continue nurture future footballers who have high academic and discipline levels. Last year, Kitchee and Yan Chai Hospital Tung Chi Ying Memorial Secondary School offered scholarships for our academy players for the first time. Players can receive scholarships if they display good performances in football, schoolwork and everyday behaviour. In the new school year, we will introduce a Best Improvement Award for academy players who have shown the biggest improvement in academic work. In addition, a new lot of scholarships will be introduced in the style of university scholarships, to encourage students to join our Professional Footballer Preparatory Programme at Tung Chi Ying School. Personal scholarships offered will be up to a maximum of HKD20,000 per year. Scholarships will be given to Form 1 to Form 6 students, provided the student has excelled in discipline, academic results and footballing performance. The school and Kitchee will both improve resources, and create an ‘elite stream’ in academic work and football, in order to nurture these youngsters. Every year, Kitchee Escola will organize an Easter trip to Spain to participate in the Mediterranean International Cup and The Terres de I’Ebre Tournament. In the future, Kitchee will continue to organise youth teams to take part and allow younger players to gain more playing experience. Preparation work for the Jockey Club Kitchee Center in Shek Mun is in progress. Pre-construction work like site exploration work and invitation to tender are nearly complete. We have received approval on a general building plan and the Club has signed an official lease contract with the Lands Department last Friday. All work will be speeded up once we have received usage rights of the site starting 1 August. The tentative schedule is to have floodlit pitches finished mid-July next year, and will be available for youth football training students and public. The estimated completion date for the whole construction project (including changing rooms and office) is mid-October 2014. Conclusion: Long-term Targets A decade ago when Kitchee returned to the First Division, the club has set itself four long term objectives: To create a strong team; nurture a new generation of elite Hong Kong footballers; devote to community and charity work and becoming more internationally minded. By achieving these objectives, Kitchee’s long-term mission is to turn itself into a self-sustaining club, and to transform from a traditional local team to a financially and management independent club, with a system of operation similar to internationally renowned clubs. Ten years on, we have made grounds on these objectives and Kitchee will continue striving in this direction. Today’s development blueprint is a plan to deliver on promises made 10 years ago. In the coming years, the club will aim to develop a squad of better local players and premium foreign players, further implant our playing style and improve the team’s strengths through our existing team of quality coaches. Better results in local and continental competitions will attract more sponsors, funds and better expatriate players. A modern style of management will also enable to team to better develop and attract sponsors. Looking back at the past decade, special thanks must be given to our all long-term sponsors, including Canon (Hong Kong). For the past 9 years, Canon has been Kitchee’s principal sponsor, including advertising on our jerseys. Starting from the next season, Kitchee’s jersey advertiser will change but Canon will maintain its role as sponsor and remain as a close partner.