On a steamy Tuesday night in June, 42,570 Hongkongers packed into a spectacular new harborside stadium located in their city’s urban heart.

Built on the site of a former airport, the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Sports Park was completed this March – and has been the crucible of a resurgence in support for the local team, where a red sea of fans now regularly cheers on the players.

Ranked 148th in the world – just between Ethiopia and the Solomon Islands – Hong Kong’s soccer team has never seen home crowds of this size, with attendances even for crucial qualifiers normally under 15,000.

But recent games have pulled in audiences more like those at top-tier international matches.

“We never had this many fans watching the Hong Kong team,” said Shinichi Chan, the 23-year-old rising star who is a regular starter of the team. “The stadium is becoming our new home.”

Chester Cheung was among the crowd on June 10, a day he won’t forget. That night, Hong Kong defeated India 1-0 in the Asian Cup qualifiers – a series of matches deciding which teams go to the continent’s showpiece event in Saudi Arabia in 2027. For Cheung, a core member of a Hong Kong fan group, watching the team’s debut at the brand-new stadium was “a dream come true.”

“I cried,” said the 29-year-old, who spent two to three months preparing for the game with his organization Chisinlo, named after a Cantonese phrase meaning “crazy people”.

Arriving three to four hours before the game, Cheung and his mates from the group prepared flags, drums, megaphones, banners, and face-painting stickers. They also helped display a huge tifo, which they had a hand in designing.

The fans’ energy set the stage for the players.

“Wearing the Hong Kong team jersey, walking out of the tunnel, and seeing all the fans supporting Hong Kong is such an unbelievable feeling,” recalled Chan, who played midfielder at the game against India. “It is always going to be in my mind and push me ever harder to play better football.”

The momentum rolled into to the next home game, where more than 45,000 fans filled the stands - a new record for the team - during a 1-1 draw against Bangladesh last month.

Cheung said the team’s debut at Kai Tak was “a very good entry point” for those who had not watched much soccer before, as many of them were attracted by social media videos of that game and decided to give the following games a try.

And on Tuesday, Hong Kong will face Singapore at its third home game at Kai Tak, and tickets are already sold out.

The packed stands should come as little surprise in a city with a rich soccer tradition going back to its time as a British colony.

Hong Kong’s first professional league was established as early as 1908, one of the oldest in Asia. It flourished in the 1970s and 80s, but since then has lost fans lured by globalized European leagues, in particular the English Premier League.

The team’s more hardcore fans in the past have also been outspoken supporters of Hong Kong’s unique Cantonese identity, culture and language, something that has occasionally caused political frictions with local authorities. Britain handed the Asian financial hub back to China in 1997 under an agreement where it is meant to keep a level of autonomy for 50 years.

In the years leading up to the massive and sometimes violent pro-democracy protests that swept Hong Kong in 2019, China’s national anthem was frequently greeted with jeers and boos from supporters of the local team.

Hong Kong authorities have since made it illegal to show disrespect to the national anthem, silencing the jeering in the stands as such public act of defiance could now lead to fines and lengthy imprisonment.

New stadium

In addition to serving as the home stadium for the city’s soccer team, the Kai Tak Sports Park is central to Hong Kong’s bid to reclaim its status as Asia’s premier destination for mega-events, after losing out to rival cities like Singapore and Tokyo in attracting some of the world’s biggest stars.

And the progress is already noticeable. Since April, the sprawling waterfront complex has hosted performers from the rock band Coldplay to Asian pop stars JJ Lin and Jay Chou, as well as major sport events including Rugby Sevens and English soccer’s North London Derby.

But for Cheung, who has followed the Hong Kong soccer team at different home venues for 10 years, the best part about Kai Tak Sports Park is the air conditioning – not to be sniffed at in a subtropical city of swelteringly humid summers.

“So no matter the weather, no matter how hot it is, it is still very comfortable inside, ” he said.

It’s not just Hong Kong seeing large fan-bases for teams that are far from the top of international rankings.

Soccer across Southeast Asia has been drawing bigger crowds in recent years. Countries and regions are putting more efforts into naturalizing foreign players and cultivating young talents, which has helped boost their competitiveness on the Asian stage.

The international nature of Hong Kong is also reflected in the team’s ethnic diversity.

It now blends a growing group of naturalized players, including Brazil-born striker Everton Camargo and France-born winger Raphaël Merkies, with a core of local talent thriving in mainland China’s top-tier league. Chan is among them, now in his second impressive season with Shanghai Shenhua after helping the top Chinese club lift last year’s league title.

Both fans and players are ready for the do-or-die game against Singapore Tuesday.

“I expect a great atmosphere, and every (fan) will spend 120% of their efforts in cheering and supporting the team,” said Cheung, who will be in the stadium with the fan group. “We are telling the fans that this time is not for entertainment. It is a fight. It’s a war.”

For Chan and his teammates, victory is the only goal, with a spot in Saudi Arabia still up for grabs.

“Kai Tak is giving me this feeling that we are stepping forward together as Hong Kong football, with the better venue, to play and provide better experiences for the fans,” said Chan. “And hopefully, we can create something great together.” (CNN)