Festus Baise

Festus Baise
法圖斯

Festus with Citizen in 2010
Personal information
Date of birth	(1980-04-11) 11 April 1980 (age 44)
Place of birth	Lagos, Nigeria
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s)	Centre back
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2004–2005	Mutual
2005	South China	6	(1)
2005–2014	Citizen	151	(24)
2014–2015	Pegasus	16	(4)
2015–2016	Eastern	5	(1)
2016–2019	Guizhou Hengfeng	87	(10)
2021–2023	North District	13	(3)
International career
2015–2019	Hong Kong	28	(2)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 6 June 2021

Festus Baise
Traditional Chinese	法圖斯
Simplified Chinese	法图斯
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Fǎtúsī Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Faat3tou4si1 Hong Kong Romanisation Fa(h) To Si IPA [fat̚˧ tʰɔw˩ si˥]

Festus Baise (Chinese: 法圖斯; born 11 April 1980) is a former Nigerian-born Hong Kong professional footballer who played 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 and Sun Hei. He would receive an offer from second tier club Mutual where he started his football career in the 2004–05 league season.^[1] Baise would join top tier club South China half way through the season and played in six games, scoring one goal.^[2]

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 in the league match. It was selected as the 5th best own goal of all time by the Daily Telegraph's Steve Wilson.^[3]

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.^[4]

Guizhou Hengfeng

On 13 December 2015, Chinese club Guizhou Hengfeng signed Baise from Eastern, citing his performances against China in two matches during 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification.^[5] He arrived at the club on 1 January 2016.

On 1 March 2018, Guizhou announced that Baise had signed a new contract through the end of 2019.^[6] He left the club after his contract expired.

International career

Baise was born in Nigeria, and is of Ghanaian descent.^[7] In December 2012, Baise confirmed that he had applied to the Hong Kong Immigration Department for naturalisation as a Chinese citizen.^[8] 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

As of 31 December 2019.^[9]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National Cup		League Cup		Continental		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Mutual	2004–05	Hong Kong Second Division League			-		-		-		-
South China	2004–05	Hong Kong First Division League	6	1	0	0	0	0	-		0[a]	0	6	1
Citizen	2005–06		19	4	0	0	0	0	-		0[a]	0	19	4
	2006–07		17	4	0	0	0	0	-		0[a]	0	17	4
	2007–08		24	1	0	0	0	0	-		0[a]	0	24	1
	2008–09		21	2	0	0	0	0	-		0[a]	0	21	2
	2009–10		5	0	0	0	0	0	-		0[a]	0	5	0
	2010–11		15	2	0	0	0	0	-		0[a]	0	15	2
	2011–12		16	4	1	0	2	2	6	1	0[a]	0	25	7
	2012–13		18	5	1	0	0	0	-		7[a]	2	26	7
	2013–14		16	2	2	0	0	0	-		0[a]	0	18	2
	Total		151	24	4	0	2	2	6	1	7	2	170	29
Pegasus	2014–15	Hong Kong Premier League	16	4	0	0	3	1	-		2[b]	1	21	6
Eastern	2015–16		5	1	0	0	1	0	-		1[a]	0	7	1
Guizhou Hengfeng	2016	China League One	28	6	0	0	-		-		-		28	6
	2017	Chinese Super League	23	3	0	0	-		-		-		23	3
	2018		14	0	0	0	-		-		-		14	0
	2019	China League One	22	1	0	0	-		-		-		22	1
	Total		87	10	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	87	10
Career total			265	40	4	0	6	3	6	1	10	3	291	47

1. Appearances in Hong Kong Senior Challenge Shield
2. One appearance in Hong Kong Senior Challenge Shield, One appearance and one goal in AFC Cup Play-off

International

As of 11 June 2019.

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Hong Kong	2015	10	0
	2016	6	0
	2017	5	0
	2018	6	2
	2019	1	0
Total		28	2

International goals

Scores and results list Hong Kong's goal tally first.^[2]

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	16 October 2018	Wibawa Mukti Stadium, Cikarang, Indonesia	Indonesia	1–1	1–1	Friendly
2.	16 November 2018	Taipei Municipal Stadium, Taipei, Taiwan	Mongolia	4–1	5–1	2019 EAFF E-1 Football Championship qualification

Personal life

Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Baise is of Ghanaian descent.^[7] In December 2012, Baise confirmed that he had applied to the Hong Kong Immigration Department for naturalisation as a Chinese citizen.^[8] He was granted a Hong Kong SAR passport on 7 March 2015. His brother, Henry Baise Okwara (or 亨利, born 16 Apr 1992), is also a footballer.

Honours

Club

Citizen

• Hong Kong Senior Shield: 2010–11^[2]

Eastern

• Hong Kong Premier League: 2015–16^[2]

References

1. "Festus Baise". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
2. "Festus Baise". nationalfootballteams.com. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
3. Top 10 own goals of all time By Steve Wilson. Daily Telegraph. 20 December 2011.
4. Citizen 2–1 Yangon United The-AFC.com. 21 March 2012.
5. Man, Sum Tak. "東方大勝元朗歡送楊正光 法圖斯加盟中甲貴州". Sports Road. Retrieved 13 December 2015. (in Chinese)
6. Mak, King Zi. "法圖斯續約貴州恆豐至2019年底". Sports Road. Retrieved 1 March 2018. (in Chinese)
7. "域陀摩西斯無礙捧尼日利亞封王". Hong Kong Jockey Club. 2013. Archived from the original on 4 April 2013. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
8. "申請入籍". Apple Daily. 12 December 2012. Retrieved 12 December 2012.
9. "法图斯". sodasoccer (in Chinese).

External links

• Festus Baise at Soccerway