India vs Hong Kong: What happened in their last meeting?

Both teams will be led by new managers ever since their last meeting

The Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in God’s own country, Kerala, is all set to host the final clash of the AFC Asian Cup 2027 qualification fixture, where the Indian national football team will lock horns against Hong Kong.

Though the fate of Group C is already decided, with Singapore already qualified for the continent’s most premier competition, set to take place in Saudi Arabia, the game still has a lot to play for both sides.

For Hong Kong, a win would see them equal table-toppers Singapore in points.

For host India, this would be an opportunity to find the silver lining in the cloud. The Blue Tigers, who were the favourites to top Group C, are winless in their first five games, and anything other than a win in the next game would result in total humiliation as they will finish at the bottom of the Group C table.

In this article, we take a ride down memory lane and find out what happened when India last faced Hong Kong. We also find out which players played for India and who impressed a lot in that game.

Hong Kong won the game 1-0 in the last meeting

The Kai Tak Sports Park in Hong Kong hosted the previous encounter between these two sides when Ashley Westwood led Hong Kong to get the better of Manolo Marquez-led India.

It was back in June 2025, almost 9 months ago, when these two sides locked horns. In that game, Manolo made some tough calls that included benching Sunil Chhetri to promote Ashique Kuruniyan as India’s leading frontman, and he missed a golden opportunity in the 35th minute to make it 1-0.

India missed many easy chances in that game, and the deadlock was yet to be broken. Nonetheless, it was Vishal Kaith between the sticks and not Gurpreet Singh Sandhu and the Mohun Bagan SG custodian made some great saves, including that shot from Oliver Gerbig that was heading for a goal.

For a moment, it seemed that this game had no goals and we were heading for a goalless draw, but a long ball in the injury time changed everything.

Kaith charged the ball, missed it completely and ended up conceding a penalty in the dying minutes of the game.

Stefan Pereira made no mistake in converting from the spot, and it was the hosts, Hong Kong, who won the game 1-0, and they took a decisive lead in the points table.

How have times changed ever since then for both teams?

For both teams, there will be two new men in the dugout. Hosts India parted ways with Manolo Marquez, who chose to return to FC Goa, and the Blue Tigers will now be led by none other than former Jamshedpur FC coach Khalid Jamil, who won the bronze medal with India in the CAFA Nations Cup.

Following Hong Kong’s defeat to Singapore, former Bengaluru FC head coach Ashley Westwood also mutually agreed to end his contract.

Hong Kong are now led by its caretaker manager Roberto Losada, who has been at the managerial helm of Kitchee and Eastern previously.

Ever since that defeat to Hong Kong, India are still winless in their AFC Asian Cup qualifier campaign. They went on to lose to Singapore and Bangladesh and salvage a solitary point against Singapore.

For Hong Kong, no wonder this team has unarguably been the second-best team in the group and had they not conceded two back-to-back goals in 4 minutes against Singapore, things would have been different today.

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