Festus Baise


Festus Baise is a Nigerian-born Hong Kong professional footballer who plays for China League One club Guizhou Hengfeng as a centre back.

Club career

Early career

Festus Baise was born in Lagos, Nigeria and was advised to go to Hong Kong and have tryouts with top tier clubs Happy Valley AA and Sun Hei SC. He would receive an offer from second tier club Mutual where he started his football career in the 2004-05 league season. Baise would join top tier club South China half way through the season and played in six games, scoring one goal.

Citizen

On 16 December 2011, Baise scored an own goal, described as a reverse scorpion kick, past his goalkeeper Tse Tak Him in a 3–2 win over Sun Hei SC in the Hong Kong first division. It was selected as the 5th best own goal of all time by the Daily Telegraph's Steve Wilson.
On 21 March 2012, Baise struck a last-minute winner as Citizen edged out Myanmar's Yangon United 2–1 at Mongkok Stadium to record a first win of the 2012 AFC Cup campaign in Group G.

Guizhou Hengfeng

On 13 December 2015, Chinese club Guizhou Hengfeng signed Baise, citing his performances against China in two matches during 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification.
On 1 March 2018, Guizhou announced that Baise had signed a new contract through the end of 2019.

International career

Baise was born in Nigeria, and is of Ghanaian descent. In December 2012, Baise confirmed that he had applied to the Hong Kong Immigration Department for naturalisation as a Chinese citizen.
He was granted the Hong Kong SAR Passport on 7 March 2015 and Baise made his international debut for Hong Kong against Guam on 28 March 2015.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

No.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.16 October 2018Wibawa Mukti Stadium, Cikarang, Indonesia1–11–1Friendly
2.16 November 2018Taipei Municipal Stadium, Taipei, Taiwan4–15–12019 EAFF E-1 Football Championship qualification

Honours

Club

Citizen
Eastern