The 2016-17 Yau Yee Amateur League drew to a close recently, bringing the curtain down on a season that saw some incredibly close finishes throughout the divisions, leaving some delighted and others perhaps ruing what might have been. 

 

Division One:

 

The Hong Kong Football Club were undoubtedly the big winners this season, with three of its teams finishing in the top three spots.

 

While Club Colts finished a respectable third with 43 points, Wanderers (51) were pipped to the title by Albion (52) with a solitary point separating the sides. As the league's most prolific goalscorers and boasting the best goal difference, however, Albion were deserving champions in the end.

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Looking towards the bottom of the table, Colloids and Knights paid the price for a disappointing campaign and will play in Division Two next season.

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Division Two:

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It was a close affair in the business end of Division Two as well although with a 2-point margin, champions Azzurri (56) had slightly more breathing space in their title race against runners-up Carnegies Boca Seniors (54).

 

Having the league's most potent attack and frugal defence certainly helped their case as they vastly improved on last year's 6th-placed finish. Both teams will be joined by Hearts FC as next season's promotion sides in Division One.

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Moving down the table, the second division bid goodbye to Community Sports Old Boys and Grasshoppers, who both had a season to forget.

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Division Three:

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If you thought the top two divisions had nail-biting finishes, this one went all the way down to the wire.

 

Maccabi HK had completed their fixtures for the season a week early, registering a 4-1 victory over Goal Visio, finishing their season with 56 points from 22 games but most importantly, with a whopping 38-goal cushion above closest competitors Antonhill.

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Antonhill had signalled their intent in the same week with a 7-1 demolition of Friends of Barclays- a result which took them to within 3 points of Maccabi with a game left to play.

 

However, they were ultimately undone by the improbability of winning by 39 goals although their final day 3-2 win over Scorpions ensured they nonetheless wrapped up a fantastic season on a high.      

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11th-placed Friends of Barclays (FOB) and 12th-placed Outward Bound Association (OBA) were relegated on the back of a poor season, with shoring up a leaky defence a priority for the former (FOB managed to outscore four teams including 6th-placed HOB, but have the ignominy of letting in the most goals down the other end).

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Division Four:

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Champions Corinthians had the easiest run-in of all the divisions and wrapped up the 4th division trophy after a 1-0 win over Bank of China (BOC), with a 6-point gap between them and 2nd-placed Green Cypress FC.

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Despite this, Hung Art were ultimately unable to displace BOC to secure a top-three finish, only narrowly missing out.

 

On a whole, the jam-packed nature of most of the remaining places, as exemplified by a 5-point difference between 4th-placed Hung Art and 9th-placed CAPS, suggests a very open-ended Division Four next season.