Soccer chief asks for HK$100 million to transform game in Hong Kong
HKFA boss asks government for 0.5 per cent of revenues generated from betting on overseas matches in new five-year strategic plan
The Hong Kong Football Association has asked the government and Hong Kong Jockey Club for annual funding of HK$100 million, which it says can be easily afforded from a tiny share of the revenue from soccer betting on overseas matches, said top official Mark Sutcliffe.
In a new five-year strategic plan to be unveiled next month, architect and HKFA chief executive Sutcliffe believes tripling the existing government funding "would transform the sport" and help Hong Kong climb back up the Fifa rankings.
To source the funds, Sutcliffe has already approached the government to either consider allowing betting on Hong Kong soccer; establish a new fund linked to the existing betting licence (on overseas matches); or use some of the interest and investment returns from the Elite Athletes Development Fund (HK$7 billion) set up to fund elite sports.
"At the end of the day it doesn't matter where the money comes from as long as it is there," Sutcliffe said. "Money shouldn't be an issue. I understand the problems over providing facilities which is a physical resource, but HK$100 million is peanuts for a place like this. If we got this sort of funding annually, it would transform the sport."
In a wide-ranging strategic plan called "Aiming High - Together", which builds on Project Phoenix, Sutcliffe outlines the urgent needs for change if the sport is to prosper again with funding being the critical factor to swing fortunes around, especially at the national level where Hong Kong are ranked 148th in the world.
The HKFA receives around HK$34 million annually in the form of government grants and charitable sponsorship, which Sutcliffe labelled in his blog as "a slice of the football betting pie you could hardly see".
"An annual surplus of around HK$20 billion is generated from football betting in Hong Kong," Sutcliffe said. "The HKFA receives an amount equivalent to 0.17 per cent of this in the form of government grants and charitable sponsorship, which is similar in scale to a one-year-old child standing next to the ICC building. If this was increased to half of 1 per cent [0.5 which is around HK$100 million] it would still be a drop in the ocean but it would literally transform the sport."
