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 territories were secured and conditions were ripe for its gradual abrogation. A few months after Thatcher's visit to Beijing, the PRC government had yet to open negotiations with the British government regarding the sovereignty of Hong Kong. Shortly before the initiation of sovereignty talks, Governor Youde declared his intention to represent the population of Hong Kong at the negotiations. This statement sparked a strong response from the PRC, prompting Deng Xiaoping to denounce talk of "the so-called 'three-legged stool'", which implied that Hong Kong was a party to talks on its future, alongside Beijing and London. At the preliminary stage