Stephen Chow will be making his directorial return to the big screen with his upcoming film Kung Fu Football, to be released in Singapore on Aug 6.
In an Instagram post today (July 6), local distributor Encore Films revealed the movie poster with the caption: “One kick can ignite the world.
“The legendary king of comedy Stephen Chow is back after 25 years with Kung Fu Football! The countdown to all the Kung Fu madness and football fever has just begun.”
The last film that 64-year-old Stephen directed was The New King of Comedy, released in 2019.
Kung Fu Football is a spin-off of his huge comedy hit film Shaolin Football (2001) and centres on all-female football squad Emei team, who integrate martial arts into their game for an improbable run at a championship.
The film stars Chinese actresses Dilraba Dilmurat and Zhang Xiaofei, as well as singer-actor Lay Zhang.
The full cast was also revealed in a post on the film’s official Weibo account today: There will be special appearances by familiar faces including Hong Kong actress Carina Lau, Japanese actor Takeru Satoh and Japanese musical group Avantgardey.
Hong Kong-American stand-up comedian Jimmy O. Yang, Chinese former football player Zhao Lina, American rapper MC Jin and Hong Kong singer-actor Louis Cheung will be making cameo appearances.
Kung Fu Football comes more than two years after Stephen first announced the spin-off in an Instagram post in 2023, where he called for females to audition for the film, then titled Shaolin Women’s Football.
Filming reportedly took about three months, beginning in Shenzhen in March 2025 with some scenes shot at Daya Bay Sports Center in Huizhou City.
Stephen created a buzz on Chinese social media on June 22 when he uploaded a video on his social media accounts where he is looking at the film edits.
In the video, a woman asked him: “Director, Kung Fu Football is still in post-production? When will it be released?”
“I am aiming for it to be released on July 10,” he responded.
The woman then asked what if he can’t meet the deadline, and he said he will aim for a July 17 release then.
When he was asked what if he still can’t complete the film by that date, Stephen responded: “Then I would release it someday.”
He also wrote in the caption of his post: “I am working hard.”
It was announced in a Weibo post today that the film will be released in China on July 11.
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