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Paul McNamara

Talented young Tai Po forward Lee Lok-him is juggling his football career with working on a geriatric hospital ward as part of the nursing degree he is taking to safeguard his future.
Identified as a serious Hong Kong prospect by interim head coach Roberto Losada, the 21-year-old Lee started and finished Tai Po’s weekend defeat by Southern, after a decisive cameo off the bench in the recent Senior Shield final victory over BC Rangers.
He said he was “a bit shocked but also excited” to be included in all three of Losada’s city team squads since the 49-year-old took charge in December, most recently figuring as a substitute in last month’s FWD Chinese New Year Cup victory over FC Seoul.
“It’s encouraged me to work harder to prepare for games,” Lee said, although his course at Polytechnic University is complicating that desire.
“We need to work a lot in placements and, sometimes, it’s difficult to handle both,” Lee said. “I need to be in the hospital to work, but also to go to training.”

Currently working on the acute medical ward for geriatrics at Princess Margaret Hospital in Kowloon, Lee’s days include “things like wound dressing and uro-catheter insertion”.
Formerly with the now defunct HKU23, Lee has made 30 Tai Po appearances, including 10 starts, since he joined in summer 2024.
He has been in the Hong Kong set-up since under-15 and pledged to “pursue football first, because it is my dream”, but is studying nursing because he hopes to “have a stable job” after retiring from the sport.
Lee attributed his steadily increasing role with reigning champions Tai Po, whose future beyond this season is uncertain amid doubts over whether the club’s owners will maintain their financial backing, to “encouragement from my family, the coaches and the team to keep working hard”.
“The coaches have given me programmes to improve my techniques and fitness,” Lee said, adding that Tai Po boss Lee Chi-kin had spent time on the field before training last week “teaching me things I need as a winger: how to get the ball more easily and how to be more aggressive”.
“My strength is how I protect the ball,” he said. “I need to improve my skills and do things quicker; international teams are very quick, strong and tough, so I need to be quicker, stronger and more aggressive to play those games.”
The characteristically blunt Lee Chi-kin said he “likes [Lee] very much, but he’s not doing enough yet”.
“He has good potential and good technique, but he needs to show more hunger,” the manager said. “Also, I can’t give him decision-making ability, he needs experience to improve that.”
The player said he was aiming to show he deserved to retain his Hong Kong squad place for matches this month against Nepal and India, and hoped to learn from Losada, who won a hat-trick of Hong Kong Premier League coach of the year awards while at Eastern.
“Chino [Losada] gave lots of chances to young players at Eastern, and many of them went to [mainland] China,” Lee said. “If I keep performing well, and keep improving, I might get more chances in the senior team.
“I hope I can have an opportunity, like other young players from Hong Kong, to go to China or other countries to experience more about football.”


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Sport

Football

Tai Po forward Lee Lok-him eyes a shot at playing on the mainland, in between working on geriatric ward at Princess Margaret Hospital


Tai Po forward Lee Lok-him eyes a shot at playing on the mainland, in between working on geriatric ward at Princess Margaret Hospital.


Hong Kong Premier League

Lee Chi-kin

Roberto Losada

Meet the Hong Kong footballer balancing a passion for nursing with chasing China dream

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Tai Po forward Lee Lok-him eyes a shot at playing on the mainland, in between working on geriatric ward at Princess Margaret Hospital

Tai Po forward Lee Lok-him eyes a shot at playing on the mainland, in between working on geriatric ward at Princess Margaret Hospital