Francis Yip said Tse’s role, as a goalkeeper for fictional team Dreams FC, was designed to showcase football as a viable career, which “creates additional opportunities”.

One aspiring footballer in the film references his parents’ preference that he become a “doctor, lawyer, or engineer”.

“I want to be this role model, because I want to encourage more people who love football to play the sport,” Tse said. “Most importantly, I want people to know football in Hong Kong is really not bad. I want to take care of it. If I play well, and my image is good, I can help.

“If more stakeholders in Hong Kong football have ideas like this, we can attract new fans. I cannot change it [by myself], it needs many people to come together to change the environment.”

In 2020, the Hong Kong Football Association produced its Vision 2025 initiative. Strategic goal three, of seven, targeted “an improving and independently operated top men professional league with stable teams”. Tactic 11, of 12, for realising this ambition “over the period 2020 to 2025” was to “increase attendances”.

The FA are failing dismally in this respect. The average attendance for Premier League matches in 2022-23 was 749, with only two clubs, Kitchee and Eastern, regularly attracting more than 1,000 supporters. Do not expect material improvement when the 2023-24 figures come to light.

The Yips, who bankroll Tai Po, should be applauded for their drive, initiative and imagination, as they seek to rekindle interest. It was co-written by Bobby Sho and Ian Hui, who doubled as the film’s director, and said the plot both “shines a light on impoverished Hong Kong, and promotes Hong Kong football … by shining a light on the talent [in the city]”.

Lead character Hong, a “guy who lets my mouth run wild,” returns to Hong Kong, aged 17, after the death of his father, who dragged his youngest son to mainland China following a family row, leaving behind older brother Tai and his mother.

What follows is a tightly told tale, hooked around the brothers stumbling across Dreams FC, and growing integral to a disparate squad’s attempts to reach the top level of local football.

The film premiered in Times Square, with Tse, whose scenes were captured across five eight-to-10 hour days, prominent on a large promotional poster in the foyer.

“I have come to this cinema to watch movies, and never expected I could be here like this,” Tse said. “This was something completely different for me, but it was fun. It is embarrassing seeing myself [on screen], my acting probably needs to improve. But I would do more things like this, if it is OK with my football schedule.”

Tse, Hong Kong’s No 1 for last year’s Asian Games semi-final campaign, and a regular in the senior squad, has kept seven clean sheets in 11 league games this season.

The 24-year-old was briefly an apprentice with English club Bury in 2016, before visa problems forced his return home.

“I think I am at the golden age to fight for my career,” he said. “I want to play overseas, and go to a higher level. It is not easy, especially as a goalkeeper, because you cannot go to the mainland [where only homegrown keepers are permitted].

“I cannot force it, I have to focus on Tai Po and Hong Kong, and be ready if I get my chance.”