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Chow Chee Keong (26 November 1948 – 21 February 2018)[2] was a Malaysian football goalkeeper who played in Hong Kong.

Chow Chee Keong

Chee Keong playing for South China
Personal information
Date of birth	(1948-11-26)26 November 1948
Place of birth	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Date of death	21 February 2018(2018-02-21) (aged 69)
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1967–1968	Bedford Town		(0)
1970	HK Rangers		(0)
1970–1971	Jardine		(0)
1971–1974	South China		(0)
1974–1977	Tung Sing		(0)
1977–1979	South China		(0)
1981	South China	0	(0)
1981–1982	HK Rangers	0	(0)
National team
1965–1985	Malaysia	38[1]	(0)
Chinese name Traditional Chinese 仇志強 Simplified Chinese 仇志强 Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Qiú Zhìqiáng Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Sau4 Zi3 Koeng4
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Career

His nickname in Hong Kong was Asian Steel Gate (Chinese: 亞洲鋼門) and Crazy Sword (Chinese: 神經刀). He was a Malaysian Chinese. In 1963, he represented the Malaysian in under-20 level as a 13-year-old. Two years later, he joined the Malaysia national football team as a 15-year-old. At that point, he was the youngest ever Malaysian international player. He was on the playing staff at Bedford Town FC 1967/68. From 1966 to 1970, he was voted by the Asian Football Confederation as the best goalkeeper for 5 straight times.[3]

In 1968, he came to Hong Kong with a Malaysian Chinese selection side and many Hong Kong clubs took notice of him. Two years later, he joined Hong Kong Rangers for three guest matches. Then, he joined Jardine for a salary of HK$2,500 per month[4] which was the Hong Kong record at that time. However, a year later, Jardines withdrew from the Hong Kong football league system. So he moved to South China where his career started to take off. For his three seasons with South China, he won many trophies and personal awards. In 1974, he moved to Tung Sing. His salary was HKD 7000 per month plus housing. In 1977, he returned to South China. A year later, he started to play in both Hong Kong league and the Malaysian league simultaneously. In 1979, he left Hong Kong, but returned in 1981. He spent a short time again with South China before moving to Hong Kong Rangers. In 1982, he finally returned to Malaysia and played for Malaysia national football team for three years then retired from football.

Retirement

He became a golfer after retiring from football. In 1991, he finally earned a coaching license. He first started to teach in Malaysia. In 1995, he moved to a golf club in Shenzhen, China. In 1997, he returned to South China as a golfing instructor.

Honours

Club

South China

• Hong Kong First Division:

Winners(3): 1971-72, 1973-74, 1977-78

• Hong Kong Senior Shield

Winners(1): 1971-72

• Viceroy Cup

Winners(1): 1971-72

International

Malaysia

• Pestabola Merdeka

Winners(1): 1968[5]

Individual

• AFC Asia's best goalkeeper: 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970[3]
• AFC Asian All Stars: 1968[6]
• Between The Sticks-Top 10 Asian & Oceanic goalkeepers of all time (5th place): 2020[7]
• IFFHS Men Best Malaysian Goalkeeper of the Century (1901-2000)[8]
• IFFHS Men’s All Time Malaysia Dream Team: 2022[9]

References

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