Officially founded in 1996, Sexy FC has now spent 30 years proving that sometimes the best ideas really do begin in smoky underground bars.

Before Sexy FC, there was Clark Hatch. Then, according to club legend, a German lad and a British lad found themselves having a conversation in a smoky Beijing basement bar. Two guys who simply wanted to play football.

It sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, but it isn’t.

“What should we call ourselves?”

“Sexy FC.”

“What colour should we wear?”

“Pink.”

And that was that.

Little could they have known that their very quick decision would create a club that would still be going strong three decades later. In 2026, Sexy FC celebrates its 30th anniversary, having become a home away from home for close to a thousand people who have passed through Beijing and, somewhere along the way, fallen in love with the club.

What started with a couple of lads wanting a game of football has grown into a proper football community. Today, Sexy FC competes across men’s and women’s football in Beijing, with our Men’s 11-a-side teams, Sexy FC and Too Sexy; our Men’s 5-a-side teams, Sexy FC and Too Sexy; and our Women’s 7-a-side team, Sexy FC Women.

Different teams, different leagues, different levels of ability — but the same pink shirt and the same club.

And let’s be clear: it wasn’t always because of the football.

Sexy has certainly had some talented players over the years, but we’ve also had plenty who would struggle to control a bag of cement. What has always made the club special is everything that happens around the football: the banter, the friendships, the ridiculous stories and that feeling that you’ve somehow become part of a family on the other side of the world.

It’s the late nights in the bar when “I’ll just have one” somehow turns into a bottle of Fireball, 12 pints, 15 shots and, several questionable decisions later, finding yourself dancing on the stage at La Social in the early hours of the morning.

It’s when the sun starts coming up as you finish a McDonald’s cheeseburger and realise that, somewhere during the night, things went horribly wrong. You’ll regret every decision when you wake up the next afternoon, swear you’re never drinking again, and then a week later you’ll be sitting in the bar with the same people, laughing about it before doing the whole thing again.

That is Sexy FC.

Yes, we play football. Sometimes we’re even quite good at it. From 11-a-side to 5-a-side, from the men’s teams to Sexy FC Women, there are now more ways than ever to pull on the pink shirt and become part of the club.

But Sexy FC has never really been about results, trophies or league tables.

It’s about football, friendship and social. It’s about arriving in Beijing knowing nobody and suddenly finding yourself surrounded by people who become some of your closest friends. It’s about the stories that get repeated for years, the nights nobody completely remembers, the teammates who leave Beijing but never really leave the club, and the friendships that survive long after the final whistle.

For hundreds of people over the last 30 years, Sexy FC has become a small but unforgettable part of their lives.

A football club, a social club, a family — and for many of us, a home away from home.

A club that leaves you with friendships, stories and memories that last a lifetime.

And, for some people, apparently a tattoo.

Sexy FC — Beijing, Rocking in Pink since 1996