The suspect, surnamed Wong, was previously an assistant coach of the team. He was arrested last Friday and on bail pending the inspection in September.

According to the police, the victims - aged 30 and 24 respectively - used to take part in the football training class several years ago in which Wong was the coach. Last year they joined the sports centre located at Shum Shui Po as staff where Wong was the operator.

Police received the reports on August 17 and 19 from the two victims claiming to be indecently assaulted by Wong when they worked together in 2021.

In a reply to The Standard, a spokesman of the Hong Kong Football Association said the HKFA is “very concerned about” the case and has suspended the coach's qualification several weeks ago after it received complaints.

“The HKFA earlier has received complaints from a woman who is related to the case, so we tried to further understand the details, while that coach had taught in some training classes organized by the HKFA, but he is not a serving employee of our association,” the spokesman said.

The HKFA also said it does not have the power to intervene after careful consideration as the incident does not involve serving staff of HKFA, and the case took place in the sports centre they work and operated by that coach, not in events organized by the HKFA.

He added that due to the seriousness of the incident, the HKFA has got a EOC written confirmation of accepting the case by the complainant.

“We have also suspended the coach in teaching in any HKFA's classes,” the spokesman said.