Huang Yang

Huang Yang (, born 30 October 1983) is a former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. Born in China, he played for the Hong Kong national team.

Huang was the Hong Kong Footballer of the Year in 2013.

Early career Huang played for Shanghai Shenhua's youth academy when he was 15. He was a member of the team that trained in Brazil with São Paulo FC and Portuguesa. He played for China as captain at the 2005 Summer Universiade. and was loaned by Shenhua to Shanghai Qunying.

University Huang attended Donghua University and played football at the same time. When he graduated, he gave up professional football to start working. A year later, Donghua's football team re-called him as an alumnus when Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HKPU) arrived in Shanghai for a friendly. At the time, the HKPU wanted to recruit Chinese students with football talent and Huang thus joined to study at HKPU. In the three years since he joined, Hong Kong Polytechnic University won the University Sports Federation of Hong Kong's football competition twice, including in 2011 when Huang was captain and scored the winning penalty. After that, Huang completed his second degree and decided to join Kitchee to complete his unfinished dream.

Club career Huang finished his studies in the summer of 2011 and Kitchee recruited him for the 2011–12 Hong Kong First Division League season. As he has already spent 3 years in Hong Kong as a student, he could be registered as a local player. The first game he played for Kitchee was against Chelsea in the 2011 Barclays Asia Trophy. He was the player who managed Kitchee's only shot at the Chelsea goal. He then played in the third place play-off against Blackburn Rovers. He received good reviews from the fans despite the 0–3 loss. On 18 September 2011, he scored his first goal in Hong Kong in his club's 4–2 win over Tai Po.

On 4 January 2020, Huang made his 250th appearance for the club in the Sapling Cup match against Rangers.

On 26 May 2024, Huang made his final appearance for the club in the final match of the 2023–24 Hong Kong Premier League against Lee Man, and announced his retirement from professional football. The club retired his number 19 after the season.

International career On 2 February 2012, Huang was called up to the Hong Kong national team by Ernie Merrick for the friendly against Chinese Taipei. On 29 February 2012, he made his debut for Hong Kong against Chinese Taipei.

On 11 October 2016, Huang scored his first international goal for Hong Kong in the friendly against Singapore.

Starting from the 2019 EAFF E-1 Football Championship Round 2 in November 2018, Huang became the captain of Hong Kong.

On 14 January 2024, Huang announced his retirement from international football. Having earned 71 caps and scored one goal, Huang was one of the most capped players in the Hong Kong national team.

Career statistics Club