The Hong Kong Football Association is expected to finish in the black despite a record low turnout for the Lunar New Year Cup.
About 28,000 spectators passed through the gates, including just 13,564 fans who attended Wednesday night's final won by the Jamaica Olympic team.
It was the first time the Hong Kong FA had invited national Olympic teams to the annual showpiece, which traditionally is the main source of revenue for the association for the season.
The under-23 Olympic squads of China and Australia completed the line-up with the Hong Kong League XI and despite the worst crowd attendances since the tournament's inception in 1983, the Hong Kong FA should still earn a profit thanks to gate receipts and TV rights. 'The matches were beamed live to Australia and China,' said a FA spokesman. 'Overall, we are not entirely disappointed with the gate figures. The FA financed the tournament itself since we had no title sponsor, although we managed to attract eight sponsors, which helped keep costs down.'
The Hong Kong FA made this year's ticket prices the cheapest in years with students enjoying a massive discount. Students were able to enjoy all four matches on both days for just HK$60 - and that included the price of admission for tonight's friendly between local club South China and visiting J.League side Yokohama Marinos. The most expensive tickets were priced at HK$320 for a two-day package.
Kwok Ka-ming, the Hong Kong FA's technical adviser, said the national governing body would have to come to terms with that fact that it was getting harder to attract quality national teams.