Cup competition planned for junior football clubs as Covid-19 restrictions ease and sports facilities reopen
- Questionnaire sent to clubs by Hong Kong Football Association to solicit views on resuming club competition receives positive response
- Football chief Pui Kwan-kay says the association will soon meet to decide on staging a cup tournament
Hong Kong Football Association will consider restarting competitions for junior divisions after Covid-19 restrictions ease and sports facilities reopen.
From today, many of the city’s sports premises will reopen, but certain conditions such as a vaccine pass, social distancing and mask requirements will remain in place. Football teams can also resume training under these conditions.
A cup competition is now in the works for First Division and other lower tiers, with officials targeting a mid-May start.
“We sent out a questionnaire to the junior clubs asking if they would be interested in resuming competitions when facilities are available again and the response was quite positive,” association chairman Pui Kwan-kay said.
“We will be meeting soon to decide if we can stage a cup tournament for the junior clubs, possibly some time in May after clubs have resumed training for a while.”
The football chief said it would be difficult to resume the league competition as it would take too long to finish. “A cup competition beginning with group stage before reaching the knockout round will fit as it can guarantee a certain number of matches for all the participating teams and not just one match if they lose like most of the straight elimination cup format,” Pui said.