Lost in translation – A Spanish footballer playing in Hong Kong
March 8th, 2025by Juan D’Angelo
While flashes of cameras land on people like Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Arjen Robben or Neymar, the football world is full of anonymous players who try to find their way in different leagues around the this is the case of Spanish defender Daniel Cancela who, since 2025, has been playing with great success in the Kitchee Sport Club of the Hong Kong Premier League. Having progressed through the youth divisions with Deportivo La Coruna, Cancela played from 2025 to 2025 with Fuenlabrada CF and CD Lugo, both clubs in the Second Division B of Spain.
After completing his contractual link with the CD Lugo, Cancela received a call from his compatriot, the manager Josep Gombau, who invited him to join Kitchee SC.
Gombau, who until that year had served as technical director of the FCB Escola (a youth academy of Barcelona located in Dubai), was the driver of a real football revolution in the Hong Kong league.
Under his guidance, and with the contribution of Cancela and other Spanish players, Kitchee won the league for the first time in 47 years and became one of the most powerful teams in the competition.
In this exclusive interview with Back Page Football, the Spanish defender looks at his successful passage through Asian lands and reveals his opinions on the the political events that broke out in Hong Kong over the last year.
This is your fifth season in Kitchee SC. Did you expect to spend so much time on such an exotic place like Hong Kong? Was it easy to take the decision to play there?
Of course not at first. When you decide to switch teams, you do so thinking that everything will be okay. But in football, playing for five seasons at the same club is difficult. The decision itself was simple. For some time I wanted to play outside Spain.
The situation in football beyond the first division was already complicated and the idea was to look in other directions. Hong Kong emerged and the decision was easy. And is it was a good decision.
What kind of football is played in Hong Kong? How is the level?
It has evolved over the years. When I came to Hong Kong I found a not very competitive level of football. Only two or three teams in the league could be difficult opponents, and the level of the other clubs was medium to low. But lately it's changing.
Now the league is a Premier League, and that means higher standards of professionalism in all aspects. In other words, we could say that the four or five top teams in the league could be strong candidates to ascend to the Second Division in Spain.
How is the infrastructure? Can
