Hong Kong Premier League kick-off to be delayed by a week
- Clubs want more time for their overseas recruits to settle in the city because of difficulties they faced obtaining work permits amid travel restrictions
- New season can still be completed in June next year, says the Hong Kong Football Association
The new Hong Kong Premier League will kick off one week later than scheduled after clubs asked for more time to allow their overseas recruits to get their paperwork sorted out.
The coronavirus pandemic is making life more difficult for expatriate players in Hong Kong with more time needed for work permits among other administration matters that need to be ironed out. And with travel restrictions imposed across the world, some players had found it difficult to book flights coming here.
Eastern Long Lions, last season’s league runners-up, will now begin the campaign against newly promoted Capital Resources on their home ground at Mong Kok Stadium on November 21.
However, it is still not clear if spectators will be allowed to attend the match amid the pandemic that is still affecting the city. On Tuesday, the Centre for Health Protection reported nine new Covid-19 cases, consisting of six imported cases and three local ones.
The Football Association had planned to start the league on November 14 upon completion of the first 15 Sapling Cup matches but clubs have told the FA they need more time to get ready.
“Some clubs say they need a bit more time before their new overseas players can start [playing],” said association chairman Pui Kwan-kay. “We first plan to schedule these teams in the latter part of week one [league competition] but since there are a number of them who have made the [same] request, we have therefore decided to postpone the entire league [competition] by a week.
“It won’t affect the season’s fixtures as we can schedule some Sapling Cup matches to fill that one-week gap.”
