[2] While the football team has won many titles in the second-tier competition in recent years, they have rarely enjoyed success when playing against professional sides in the First Division.

In 2016, two years after the establishment of the fully professional Hong Kong Premier League, HKFC finally decided to seek promotion to the top flight after finishing as runners-up behind Tai Po in the 2015–16 season.

[6][7][8] The team then signed experienced players such as Brian Fok, To Chun Kiu, Oliver Laxton and Chris Chung to add quality to the squad in pre-season.

Prior to the start of the 2022–23 season, the club announced the crucial signings of striker Paul Ngue,[10] others such as Alexandre Dujardin, Siu Ka Ming, Ng Tsz Chung, Emmet Wan, and Jack Sealy were brought in to help restructure the senior squad and increase their chances of survival.

[16] HKFC then saw the arrival of experienced attacking player Paulinho joining the team with him making his debut in a historical 4–2 comeback to Tai Po FC in a 2022–23 Hong Kong Sapling Cup game, scoring twice and assisting Henry Moore for the equalizing goal.

In addition to Khan, the club also secured signings of former Southern defender Lau Hok Ming,[28][29] Harima Hirokane, Jordon Brown on loan from Kitchee along with young players Lee Chun Yin, Maddox Kong, Stefan Antonic[30] and Calum Bloxham to their ranks.

Foreigners Dominic Johns who was formerly on trial with fellow HKPL club Eastern[31] was signed alongside Costa Rican-English defender Felix Perez-Doyle.

[35] The team picked up their first win of the league campaign in a 1–0 outing victory against Sham Shui Po away before going on to lose the Hong Kong FA Cup[36] tie to the latter.

The team would go on a 5-game, no-win streak across all competitions before claiming a dominant 4–1 win over Resources Capital at home following goals from 4 different players.

The club would continue on a poor run of form, picking up only 9 points in the league from January across 11 games, with the most attention being a 1–0 home humbling of North District with the sole goal scored by a 42-year-old Paulinho, the game was a heated tussle for both sides as winger Dominic Johns suffered a nasty injury following serious foul play by the North District defender which lead to an uproar in the HKFC side to avenge their teammate.

[44][45][46][47] On 31 July 2024, the club held a pre-season conference in which Chancy Cooke replaced Tony Hamilton-Bram as the new head coach.

The stadium holds a home sellout record of 1,720 sold tickets during the 3–0 defeat of HKFC against Kitchee in the 2022–23 Hong Kong Premier League season.

[53] The club now competes in the Hong Kong Second Division and is led by coach Rich Le-Gallez alongside assistant managers Leung King Yu and Ko Chun.