Michael Cheng Lai Hin (; born ) is a former

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a striker. Cheng was arrested by the ICAC on match fixing charges in 2017 but was subsequently cleared.

Club career

Kitchee

Cheng Lai Hin signed for

Kitchee Kitchee Sports Club (; ; ) is a Hong Kong professional football club based in Kowloon. It was founded in 1931 and currently competes in the Hong Kong Premier League. The club has won championships in Hong Kong 11 times, including 6 Hong Kong ...

when he was only 18. Cheng Lai Hin was one of the torch bearers for Hong Kong for the 2008 Olympic torch relay in the SAR. On 29 November 2008, in the 2008-09 Hong Kong Senior Challenge Shield semi-final, Cheng Lai Hin came on as a substitute and scored Kitchee's second goal, but Kitchee still lost to

Sun Hei SC Sun Hei Sports Club () is a Hong Kong football club which currently competes in the Hong Kong Third Division. The club has a long history in playing in the top flight, but decided to self-relegate in the 2013–14 season after declining to par ...

. On 31 May 2010, in the

2010 Singapore Cup The 2010 Singapore Cup (known as the RHB Singapore Cup for sponsorship reasons) started on 24 May 2010. It was the 13th staging of the annual Singapore Cup soccer tournament. 12 S.League clubs and 4 invited foreign teams played in this edition ...

, Cheng Lai Hin scored at the 111-minute, from a

Lo Kwan Yee Lo Kwan Yee (, born 9 October 1984) is a Hong Kong professional footballer who currently plays for Hong Kong Premier League club Rangers. Lo has represented Hong Kong at international level at various age groups, making his debut with the s ...

corner against

Beijing Guoan Talent Beijing Guoan Talent Singapore Football Club (北京国安精英队) was a Chinese professional soccer club which was formed to play as a foreign team in Singapore's S.League in 2010. The club was a satellite team of the Chinese Super League clu ...

. His goal helped Kitchee win the match 2:1 and proceed to the quarter finals.

South China

On 8 June 2010, Cheng Lai Hin signed for South China in 2010, following the footsteps of

Chan Siu Ki Chan Siu Ki (, born 14 July 1985 in Hong Kong) is a former Hong Kong professional footballer who currently plays as an amateur player for Hong Kong First Division club Eastern District. He is the all-time top scorer for Hong Kong with 40 goa ...

. He left Kitchee because coach

Josep Gombau Josep Gombau Balague (born 5 June 1976) is a Spanish professional football manager who is the current head coach of Indian Super League club Odisha. He is a former Barcelona youth team coach and has held multiple positions at the club's youth ...

did not think he fitted Kitchee's 4–3–3 formation. He joined South China expecting to be only a reserve to replace the departing Chao Pengfei. South China's

Steven Lo Steven Lo Kit-Sing (, born 8 June 1959) is a Hong Kong and Macanese businessman, investor, filmmaker, and philanthropist. Born in Hong Kong, Steven Lo had his upbringing and education in Macau. After graduation from high school, he worked in ...

compared Cheng favourably to

Jong Tae Se Jong Tae-se (romanization used by FIFA, otherwise spelled as in Japan and Germany; hangul: 정대세, hanja: 鄭大世; born ) is a former professional footballer who played as a forward. Born in Japan, he represented the North Korea nati ...

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and ...

but Cheng himself played down the expectations. In the

2010-11 Hong Kong Senior Challenge Shield 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length ...

semi-final against

Tai Po FC Tai Po Football Club (), also known as Wofoo Tai Po due to sponsorship reasons, is a Hong Kong professional football club which currently competes in the Hong Kong Premier League. In the 2018–19 season, Tai Po successfully won their first t ...

, Cheng Lai Hin scored twice to help South China win 3:0 and advance to the final. In the 2011 Asian Challenge Cup, Cheng Lai Hin came on as a substitute against

Ulsan Hyundai Ulsan Hyundai FC ( ko, 울산 현대 축구단) is a South Korean professional football club based in Ulsan that competes in the K League 1, the top tier of South Korean football. Founded in 1983 as Hyundai Horang-i, they joined the K League i ...

in the third place play-off and scored South China's second goal. But South China lost the match 2:4 to finish last. In the

2011 AFC Cup The 2011 AFC Cup was the eighth edition of the AFC Cup, a football competition organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for clubs from "developing countries" in Asia. Allocation of entries per association *2 teams to qualify from eac ...

away game to

East Bengal FC East Bengal Club, commonly referred to as East Bengal (), is an Indian professional multi-sport club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. It is best known for its professional men's football team that competes in the Indian Super League, the top ...

, Cheng Lai Hin scored the second goal for South China, his first goal in the competition, at the 87-minute. The match ended 3:3. In the crucial away leg to

Persipura Jayapura Persatuan Sepakbola Indonesia Jayapura, or Persipura, is an Indonesian football club based in Jayapura, Papua. The club was founded in 1963 and currently competes in the Liga 2. Persipura used to always use the Mandala Stadium as their ho ...

, a

game, Chan Siu Ki was suspended and Cheng Lai Hin was required to partner Mateja Kezman up front. Kezman claimed he was confident of the partnership with Cheng. But in the end South China lost the match 2:4 and any chance to qualify for the second phase. In his first season at South China, Cheng Lai Hin finished as the top scorer of the club by scoring a total of 7 goals in all local competitions, despite being not a regular starting member, 1 more than Mateja Kezman and 2 more than regular starter

Pegasus

Cheng joined

Pegasus Pegasus ( grc-gre, Πήγασος, Pḗgasos; la, Pegasus, Pegasos) is one of the best known creatures in Greek mythology. He is a winged divine stallion usually depicted as pure white in color. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as hor ...

in the summer of 2015.

International career

On 20 June 2010, Cheng Lai Hin scored a hat-trick for

Hong Kong national football team The Hong Kong national football team () represents Hong Kong in international football and is controlled by the Hong Kong Football Association, the governing body for football in Hong Kong. Hong Kong was the first in Asia to hold the AFC Asian ...

in the

2010 Hong Kong–Macau Interport The 66th Hong Kong–Macau Interport was held in Macau on 20 June 2010 and was won by Hong Kong. Squads Hong Kong Head coach: Tsang Wai Chung

. His goals helped Hong Kong win the match 5–1 and claimed the Interport Trophy. On 30 September 2011, Cheng Lai-Hin scored the second goal in the 3:3 draw with

the Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

in the 2011 Long Teng Cup.

Match Fixing Scandal

On 6 October 2016, Cheng was one of six current and former Pegasus players to be taken in for questioning by the ICAC on allegations of match fixing. He was formally charged on 28 June 2017 for conspiracy to defraud and offering an advantage to an agent. On 19 April 2018, Cheng was found not guilty of both charges after the judge ruled that he could not convict him beyond a reasonable doubt.

Honours

Club

;Happy Valley * Hong Kong First Division: 2018–19

International

;Hong Kong *

2009 East Asian Games ) , Host city = Hong Kong , Teams participating = 9 , Athletes participating = 2,377 , Events = 262 events in 22 sports , Opening ceremony = December 5, 2009 , Closing ceremony = December 13, 2009 , Officially opened by = State Councilor L ...

Football Event: Gold

Career statistics

Club

''As of 6 December 2006''

International

:''As of 5 October 2011''

References

External links

Cheng Lai Hin
at HKFA * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cheng, Lai Hin 1986 births Living people Hong Kong footballers Association football forwards Hong Kong Rangers FC players Kitchee SC players Hong Kong First Division League players Hong Kong Premier League players Hong Kong FC players South China AA players TSW Pegasus FC players Happy Valley AA players Hong Kong international footballers Footballers at the 2006 Asian Games Asian Games competitors for Hong Kong