When 'Jesus' Came to Hong Kong: The Remarkable Story of the First European Football Star in Asia

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It took balls to go to Hong Kong.

When Scottish footballer Derek Currie was made an offer to travel to Hong Kong to play against the one sportsman he had dreamed of meeting on the field, he couldn’t say no.

From apprentice printer in Glasgow to playing football against Pelé in the Far East, singing with Stevie Wonder, and shadow-boxing with Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Currie enjoyed a magical life as one of the first three European professional footballers in Asia. He was quickly nicknamed ‘Jesus’ by Hong Kong football fans.

Here he traces the early development of professional football in the then-British colony through his own career – the games, the places, and the characters he met along the way – as well as a season playing for the San Antonio Thunder in Texas.

Given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, he didn’t think twice – traveling 6,000 miles across the world to pursue his dream of professional football. In the years that followed, he met international stars from music, show business, boxing, and horse racing.

Here in words and pictures is his amazing story – if not for the photographic proof you could be forgiven for thinking it might be a fairy tale! It isn’t.

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