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[caption id="attachment_36788" align="aligncenter" width="580"] The rise of Chan Yung-Ting. Image Source: AFC[/caption] Internet Desk: Chan Yuen-ting made football history last year, when she became the first woman coach to win a men’s top-flight title in professional football. And having already shattered one glass ceiling, the Hong Konger is looking for even greater challenges. The 2017 AFC Champions League, with an opening visit to two-time winners Guangzhou Evergrande, could be just the place to make more headlines. The-afc.com spoke to coach Chan following last year’s pioneering league championship success to find out more about her record-setting journey so far. Unassuming from the outside, the clubhouse of King’s Park Sports Ground in Ho Man Tin, Hong Kong, might seem an unlikely place to encounter a Guinness Book of World Records holder, but, inside, the trophy-laden cabinet that provides the backdrop for the interview with Eastern coach Chan Yuen-ting is highly appropriate. While the silver cups and shields that loom over the 28-year-old from Sha Tin district may belong to the various rugby teams who are the regular occupants of King’s Park, they can’t help but evoke the memories of April 22, 2016 when Chan became the first woman to win a top-flight title in men’s professional football. In front of a sold-out Tseung Kwan O Sports Ground, Chan and Eastern ended a 21-year wait for a Hong Kong championship with a 2-1 win over South China, and with it came the headlines and the world recognition for the young coach who had accomplished what no woman had before in the male-dominated sport. “A lot of reporters and press contacted me about the achievement and I was just really surprised by the attention,” admitted Chan, enjoying the air conditioning following an hour’s training with her players in hot and humid conditions on one of the three artificial pitches at King’s Park. “When I became Eastern’s head coach, I didn’t think about becoming a pioneer or a role model for women’s football, about being a female coach and coaching a men’s team, or even winning the league title. I just wanted to do my job well. “No one would have thought this could happen in Hong Kong, I’m just really lucky.” A mixture of luck and talent, as anyone who follows sports will know, is the perfect recipe for success but, in Chan’s case, it was a bit of opportune forgery back in her teenage years proved the catalyst for her career. “I have loved football ever since I was young and always wanted play but my family didn’t allow me to because society says women shouldn’t play; they should go and dance or draw something,” she recalled. “But when I was around 15-years-old, I read about a football summer programme, I got the application form, and then signed my mother’s name [in the parental consent section].” An amused grin lit up Chan’s face. “That whole summer my mother would wonder why I left the apartment in the morning and come back dirty later on each day.” After eventually confessing to her parents, Chan was allowed to continue for the summer with the proviso that education was a priority, culminating eventually with a place at Chinese University of Hong Kong where she studied her BA in Geography. University life didn’t replace the football itch, though, and while coaching part-time to make extra money helped, an offer to join top flight side TSW Pegasus working in data analysis proved a temptation too strong, despite renewed parental disapproval. “My parents completed rejected the idea,” said Chan. “My mother never imagined I would join football again after graduating university, and my father was very angry. “It was a low salary, a part-time job but I really wanted to try because I believe if you can do something you love, you’re very lucky. And when you’re young you always want to do something a bit crazy. “I asked my father to let me try for one year and he eventually agreed. And then after that year, I asked him again for another year. He turned me down and asked me to look for a stable job with a better salary and long-term development. “But I didn’t accept this answer, so I just kept going.” Chan’s education kept going, as well, but it was in football, to her parents’ chagrin, that her studies focused. Her AFC ‘C’ License was followed up by enrollment in the 2008 Project Future Coaches programme from which she graduated two years later with her ‘B’ License. Assistant coaching roles at Southern District and then the newly re-named Sun Pegasus followed before Chan joined Eastern in last July having also completed the AFC’s advanced Women’s ‘A’ Coaching Certificate Course. The ‘A’ License proved to be crucial. Five months into her stint at Eastern, coach Yeung Ching-kwong left the club to join China League One club Meizhou Hakka and Chan, by virtue of her coaching certification, was deemed the most suitable to take over. “The club wanted to make an official announcement so I couldn’t say anything, not even to friends and family before the press conference – they were very surprised,” said Chan of the formal appointment in December. “Even the players were confused as they found out the same time as the press! The next day we had a meeting together with the team, me and the last head coach. The players knew it was a difficult situation for me as well and offered words of support that helped me. I appreciated their reaction a lot.” Chan had little time to bed into her new role with games coming thick and fast but she was soon lifting her first silverware as Eastern coach after a 2-0 win over former club Southern in the Senior Shield final in January. “At the beginning of my time in charge, our tactics followed the style of the former coach as it was a good style and we were in the middle of the season,” said Chan, who would go on to be crowned the AFC Women’s Coach of the Year for 2016. “But as the fixtures went on and we remained at the top of the table, we found that teams would defend deep against us so we had to work on new ways to break down compact defences. “The most important part for me, though, was to ensure a good communication with my players.  Men and women are different; we have a different way of approaching issues and thinking. I also don’t have the experience of being a professional player. So I had to understand why my players have a certain type of thinking or emotional reaction. “Some coaches don’t like to listen to the players as they have their own methods, but for me it is important to be very patient and learn from them, they gave me a lot of good opinions.” Having won over her players and fellow coaches with her approach to the game and Hong Kong’s fans and the world’s media alike with her success on the field, Chan is hoping that her success can now pave the way for further developments for women in the sport. “I have had some discussions with the HKFA and women coaches and these last few years they have already done a lot. When I was young there was no system in place, but now there are a lot of programs including youth developments and we can see a lot of improvement already,” she said. “However, of course, Hong Kong football is not at the same level as countries like Korea Republic or Japan. I really appreciate women’s football development in Japan, their team is really great and we can learn a lot of things from them – I’d like to go there to learn more, and bring what I learn back to Hong Kong football.” Before that, though, Chan will experience continental football as coach of the Hong Kong league champions with Eastern’s title win ensuring they will take on some of Asia’s best in the AFC Champions League's 2017 season. A new challenge that would also mark yet another new milestone: the first woman coach to lead a men’s team in an AFC competition. In the future, this might not be such a rare occurrence. “I have a lot of friends who studied with me on the AFC courses, and they want to become a full-time coach or do more in football,” said Chan. “They sent me messages to congratulate me on the league championship and they also told me they are happy because they see that I made history and that has given them the confidence to keep going. “I tell them I am just very lucky, but that if they really love football they have to chase their dream, even if they don’t achieve the ultimate goal, they still will enjoy their life.” Chan’s parents finally seem convinced, too. “My mum never mentioned me signing her name again, so I think she forgot. Or maybe she’s just proud of me. I think they’re both happy that I have made some achievement in my life.” Courtsey: AFC