All-Stars financial loss fears likely to prove unfounded

Organisers of Thursday night's Reunification Cup are confident they will not fall in the red despite a smaller than expected crowd of 17,000 at the historic match at the Hong Kong Stadium.

Rain kept many spectators away from the match which helped Hong Kong celebrate the handover, although $4.9 million was generated from gate receipts.

Wet weather and a spate of withdrawals from leading players such as Brazilians Leonardo and Edmundo and the failure to lure retired French maestro Eric Cantona here combined to prevent the expected full house.

Such was the shortage of players for the FIFA World All-Stars that organisers took the unusual step of borrowing two players from the AFC All-Stars to complement the 12 players they were able to muster. The FIFA All-Stars won 5-3.

A spokesman for the organisers said no losses should be incurred.

'The match was watched by 60 countries either live or by delayed broadcast so we had some income for television rights. We haven't calculated the exact figure yet but we shouldn't be losing money. Besides, any money gained from the match will go to a sports trust fund,' said the spokesman.

Most of the expenses incurred by organisers were from hotel and business-class air tickets, although many stars shared rooms with their wives and girlfriends, bringing hotel costs down.