BC Rangers

Group: A

Seeded: 9-12

Founded: 1958

Home: Kowloon Bay Sports Ground, Hong Kong

 

BC Rangers have only lost one out of 12 matches in the last two Soccer Sevens. Last year the Hong Kong club lost 2-0 to Leicester City in the Plate final, but had been unfortunate not to make it into the Cup competition for the first time after finishing level on five points in Group C with eventual champions Manchester City and Rangers, having drawn with both British clubs before beating Singapore Cricket Club 2-1 only to finish third on goal difference.

In 2013, BC Rangers won the Plate by going undefeated in all six of their games, a feat not even achieved by eventual Cup winners Leicester. BC Rangers finished third in Group D after a scoreless draw with Aston Villa followed 1-1 draws with fellow First Division side Citizen and Kowloon Cricket Club. BC Rangers then routed Southern 5-0 and beat HKFA U-21 on penalties to set up a rematch with KCC, edging the amateurs 1-0 in the final.

On their debut in 2011, they finished third in their group and exited in the Plate quarters.

BC Rangers have had a middling 2014/15 Premier League campaign, having finished fifth in the 2013/14 First Division, one place better than the previous season, which was their first year back in the top flight after being relegated to the Second Division in 2008.

One of the territory’s most storied clubs, the team were founded as Hong Kong Rangers more than 50 years ago by a Scottish expatriate called Ian Petrie, who named his new team after the more famous Rangers in his homeland.

Rangers changed the face of local football in 1970, becoming the first team to recruit overseas players by bringing in Scottish professionals Derek Currie and Walter Gerrard – both of whom remain revered in Hong Kong to this day – a move that brought the club their only league title in 1971.