Competitive football is set to restart in Hong Kong after the city’s government lifted its rule requiring face masks to be worn during outdoor sport. Clubs and the Hong Kong Football Association held an online meeting on Tuesday afternoon after Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, the city’s leader, announced in the morning that the requirement to wear masks during training and matches – as a Covid-19 containment measure – would no longer be enforced from Thursday. “We had expected the requirement to wear masks to be lifted in late May, but it has come much earlier,” said Pui Kwan-kay, the association’s chairman. “There was no way we could have resumed competitions if the players were still required to put on masks. At least this is some good news for us. “We immediately sought views from the clubs after the new arrangement was known, and their initial response was positive. After all, we haven’t had any competitions since January and they all want to get back to playing matches.” Pui said that he hoped the FA could make specific plans next week, possibly involving knockout competitions for the tiers below the Premier League , with each of the First, Second and Third divisions likely to contest separate cups. “Some of the clubs say they have already released their players after having no matches for so long, and are not willing to participate,” Pui said. “We will not force them to join and that means we still need some time before sorting out the number of teams, venue arrangements and so on.” He added that the leagues could not be restarted because there were too many fixtures remaining when the season was suspended early this year. “Most of the First Division teams still have 13 matches left in the season, which we don’t have enough time to finish with the summer also approaching,” Pui said. “We still consider cup competitions more suitable in the current situation.” First Division club Eastern District has indicated that it would join the cup competition. “We heard that 11 teams out of 14 would like to join it,” said club convenor and former Hong Kong international Goldbert Ko Chi-chiu. “The players want to play after such a long absence. Catch Covid playing football? Research says unlikely but Hong Kong requires masks “But some of the clubs may find it difficult to field enough players, because most of the players’ contracts were due to end this month. We will have to find ways to solve that problem.” Ko said it was a similar story in the two lower divisions, with about 80 per cent of the clubs keen to play. “We understand that the planned cup event would start in late May and finish in July,” Ko said. “We hope the Football Association can make a decision sooner rather than later, because time is running short.”