Eastern's trailblazing female coach Chan resigns

HONG KONG, May 27 (Reuters) - Chan Yuen-ting, the first female coach to lead a men's professional soccer club to a top-flight title, has resigned from her position as head coach of Hong Kong's Eastern Sports Club.

Chan made headlines internationally after guiding the club to the Hong Kong Premier League title last season, but decided to stand down at the end of the just-completed campaign after Eastern relinquished their title to rivals Kitchee.

"Chan Yuen-ting has resigned as head coach, but will remain on the club's coaching staff," a club spokesman told Reuters.

"She will be studying for the next level of coaching badges with the Asian Football Confederation and will have to be out of Hong Kong a lot between June and December, so she decided she could not continue as head coach."

Chan won the league title with Eastern last season before taking the club into the Asian Champions League for the first time.

Eastern, however, struggled in the continental competition, picking up just one point in the group stages and suffering two heavy defeats at the hands of Chinese Super League champions Guangzhou Evergrande.

Szeto Man-chung, who previously worked as team manager, will replace Chan as head coach. (Reporting by Michael Church, Editing by Amlan Chakraborty)