Football in Hong Kong for the AFC Cup. There have also been a number of other cup competitions which are no longer run: The [[Hong Kong national football team]] represents Hong Kong in men's international football events. The team competed their first international match in 1947 against [[South Korea]] during the colonial period. Even after 1997 the [[Transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong|transfer of sovereignty to China]], it continues to represent Hong Kong separately from the [[People's Republic of China]] as its own national team in international competitions due to the "[[One country, two systems]]" principle. The team has never qualified for the [[FIFA
Handover of Hong Kong which Hong Kong would be given special status by the PRC government. MacLehose's visit to the PRC raised the curtain on the issue of Hong Kong's sovereignty: Britain was made aware of the PRC's aspiration to resume sovereignty over Hong Kong and began to make arrangements accordingly to ensure the sustenance of her interests within the territory, as well as initiating the creation of a withdrawal plan in case of emergency. Three years later, Deng received the former British Prime Minister Edward Heath, who had been dispatched as the special envoy of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to establish an understanding