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President, Macau Football Association：Victor Cheung Lup Kwan
The establishment of the East Asian Football Federation has played an enormous role in the development of football in Macau. The EAFF-organized tournaments not only allow the participating football associations an opportunity to get to know each other better but they also present valuable opportunities for our teams to play at the international level. During the 2nd Youth Festival held in July, technical knowledge and ideas for football development at the youth level were shared and promoted among the football associations. Further progress of the EAFF and continuous cooperation among East Asia’s football associations will provide more opportunities for member FAs to increase the experience of organizing and competing in matches and tournaments. It is my sincere hope that the advancement of East Asian football will serve as the driving force for the overall growth and development of the region.

The people of Macau-China are very much into footballﾑthey stay up well into the night to watch European football on TV, catching up on Serie A and Premier League matches, despite the late hour broadcast due to different time zones. When it comes to playing football, though, the conditions are not exactly in perfect form. There are only a handful of football grounds, including artificial turf and uncovered pitches. The society's emphasis on academic accomplishment allows children more time with books and little time on the pitch. During the FIFA World Cup™ Asian qualifying competition held in Muscat, Oman, 9 years ago, Jo黍 Lopez, the head coach at the time, made a comment that surprised the world's media covering the event. He claimed, "The players are amateurs, and there were 4 or 5 players who could not even make it because they had to work." At the 1st East Asian Football Championship preliminaries held in 2003 in Hong Kong-China, captainラム・カ・コイwould jump on the ferry bound for Macau-China after training or the match to get back to his job. Masataka Imai, head coach for the 2003 team, insisted that "the players' passion toward football is as strong as any team." The foundation for football is definitely present in Macau-China.