Hong Kong has withdrawn from the eAsian Cup in Qatar because the football video game used by the event could not display the team’s official name.
Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China that competes separately in international sports, including at the Olympics.
How the city is identified at international events, however, is a sensitive issue and its sports associations are required to include “China” in their official names.
“Konami’s eFootball 2024 gaming application adopted by the AFC eAsian Cup 2023 is unable to correctly display our team name of ‘Hong Kong, China’,” the city’s football association said in a statement on Thursday.
“Upon days of negotiation with the organiser, no satisfactory solution could be found to resolve the issue.”
The body said it decided to drop out based on “the guidelines and advice” from Hong Kong’s Olympic committee.
AFP has contacted the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for comment.
Held alongside the Asian Cup in Qatar, the five-day e-sports version of the tournament began its group stages on Thursday.
Last year, Hong Kong’s sports bodies were told to include “China” in their official names or risk having their funding pulled.
Hong Kong’s ability to compete separately in sports has long been a source of local pride.
However, its Beijing-approved authorities have come to view that with suspicion -- especially following the pro-democracy protests that shook the city in 2019.
Tensions between Hong Kong and China used to surface regularly at sports events, with local football fans known to infuriate Beijing by booing the Chinese national anthem.
After the democracy protests, Hong Kong authorities banned any insults to China’s national anthem.
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