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Hong Kong, whose hopes of reaching the next stage of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup were already over, went on to lose the game to Iran 4-2.
Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China but competes in its own name in many international sports, including football.
During the politically tumultuous 2010s, the Hong Kong team became a vessel for civic pride and occasionally anti-government sentiment.
At the time, the Chinese national anthem was routinely drowned out by boos before Hong Kong matches, enraging local and mainland officials.
Soon after Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on Hong Kong in 2020, the finance hub passed a separate local law criminalising insults towards the anthem.
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