Tag: Football

Soccer Sevens @ HK Football Club – 29-31 May, 2015

Atletico Madrid

Reigning Spanish champions Atletico Madrid will make their tournament debut at this year’s Soccer Sevens, which will be held at Hong Kong Football Club from May 29-31.

Atletico, Spain’s third-best supported club after Real Madrid and Barcelona, will be the first Spanish club to compete in the annual seven-a-side tournament, which will mark its 16th edition in May – a year after Atletico clinched their 10th La Liga title.

Emilio Gutiérrez, Director of the club’s Academy and Expansion, said: “Atletico Madrid is proud to be the first Spanish side to compete at the Soccer Sevens, which has a strong reputation. We can see that many great teams have won the event and each year there are famous clubs competing, so we’ll just do our best and hope to entertain the fans with our style of football. We are sure that this tournament will be also a great platform to promote the Atletico Madrid brand all over the Asian market, which is a strategic area in the international expansion process of our club.”

Stoke City will also make their tournament debut at this years tournament, when ‘The Potters’ will be one of five English Premier League clubs participating.

West Ham United, boasting one of England’s most successful academies, will compete for the first time since 2012, while five-time champions Aston Villa and recent winners Newcastle United and Leicester City return from last year’s 16-team Main competition.

Villa (2011), Newcastle (2012) and Leicester (2013) have won three of the last four editions of the international seven-a-side-tournament, which each year includes youth teams from Premier League clubs.

Tony Bratsanos, Chairman of the Soccer Sevens Organising Committee, said: “The Soccer Sevens has always had a strong presence from the Premier League, so we’re delighted that Aston Villa, Newcastle United and Leicester City are continuing their participation and will be bidding to lift the Cup again. We’re excited that West Ham will be coming back after a brief break, as they were a very popular side when they played here, and we’re also proud that we were able to secure Stoke City for their tournament debut. Stoke are enjoying a fine season and will be a welcome addition to the Main competition.”

English clubs have won 10 of the 15 editions of the tournament since its inauguration in 1999. Aston Villa have won a record five times (2002, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2010), while Blackburn Rovers (1999), Arsenal (2001), Newcastle (2012), Leicester (2013) and Manchester City (2014) are the other English clubs to have lifted the Cup.

Hong Kong clubs Kitchee (2011) and Instant Dict (2000), Japan’s Urawa Reds (2005, 2006) and Scottish giants Celtic (2009) are the tournament’s only non-English champions.

The remaining sides in this year’s 16-team Main competition and teams competing in the over-35 Masters tournament will be confirmed soon.

Future stars who have competed in the Main competition include Gabby Agbonlahor, Glen Johnson, Marc Albrighton, David Bentley, Anton Ferdinand, Sammy Ameobi, Shaun Maloney, Jack Grealish and Rolando Aarons.

The Masters tournament has featured former England internationals Peter Beardsley, John Barnes, Chris Waddle, Teddy Sheringham, Des Walker, Andy Cole and Matt Le Tissier, German legends Jurgen Klinsmann and Pierre Littbarski, Finnish icon Jari Litmanen, Dutch great Aron Winter and former France winger Didier Six.

Soccer Sevens
When: 29-31 May, 2015
Where: HK Football Club
Tickets: HK$160 per day or HK$300 for a two-day pass

Image: Atletico Madrid

HK Beach 5s @ Repulse Bay – 22 March, 2015

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Bigger is not always better, last weekend’s Beach 5’s were devoid of people and atmosphere while swamped with corporate branding and data-mining promo girls demanding you sign-up for this or that.

Sadly the focus of profit over product meant that on Sunday afternoon beyond the teams and their friends cheering themselves on the event was empty apart from a bank of photographers taking pictures of the beach rugby.

You have to wonder who the Dodgeball people upset, they were stuck out-of-sight on the far-right of the beach behind one of the half empty stands at the end of the rugby field. A shame because they were one of the only sports where the teams dressed up and got into the feel of having fun – yet no-one could see costumes or their games.

The netball women were having lots of fiercely competitive matches, but with the ‘courts’ swung 90 degrees to run end to end instead of side to side as in previous years it was harder to watch multiple games at the same time and teams ended up only watching their game rather than being able to see other play at the same time.

Beach rugby was a fierce and competitive as ever, but the beach football was just boring – probably because the players lacked the skills to keep the ball in the air and tried to play ‘grass’ football style which just left the ball stuck in the sand and groans from the couple of people watching.

In past years teams had their own open-sided tents which worked as not only as places for the teams to relax and leave stuff but also as mini-social centers where friends would gather, talk, eat, drink… These helped set the friendly, social and fun feeling of the whole event. There were none this year, replaced with more sponsors booths, and the atmosphere was… well, sadly there wasn’t any.

The enthusiasm and sporting competitiveness remain, yet the fun and frivolity that made the Beach 5’s so enjoyable in previous years has been subsumed beneath the organisers greed to monetise and profit from the event.

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Beach 5s – Team Registration

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The 2015 Beach 5s take place on Repulse Bay beach on 21-22 March. This year’s event see the addition of beach football to the existing Rugby, Netball, Dodgeball and Volleyball.

Team e-registration opens at 6pm on the 26 January, 2015 and spots are expected to be filled quickly.

Men’s rugby: 16 teams
Women’s rugby: 10 teams
Netball: 32 teams
Football: 12 saturday, 14 on the sunday
Dodgeball: 16 teams
Fitness: to be confirmed

The Hong Kong Beach 5s
When: 21-22 March, 2015
Where: Repulse Bay Beach
How much: Free
More info: www.hkbeach5s.com

Lunar New Year Cup: South China v New York Cosmos @ HK Stadium – 3:30pm, 19 February, 2015

cosmos

In a press release today, the New York Cosmos confirmed they’ll be playing South China in the annual Lunar New Year Cup. This year’s match takes place on the 19 February, 2015 at HK Stadium, kick-off 3:30pm. Ticket details to finalised.

Lunar New Year Cup: South China v New York Cosmos
When: 3:30pm, 19 February, 2015
Where: HK Stadium
How much: tbc
More info: tbc

The Hong Kong Beach 5s

Beach 5s2 copy-black

The 2015 Beach 5s take place on Repulse Bay beach on 21-22 March. This year’s event see the addition of beach football to the existing Rugby, Netball, Dodgeball and Volleyball.

Team e-registration opens at 6pm on the 26 January, 2015 and spots are expected to be filled quickly.

Team numbers:
Men’s rugby: 16 teams
Women’s rugby: 10 teams
Netball: 32 teams
Football: 12 saturday, 14 on the sunday
Dodgeball: 16 teams
Fitness: to be confirmed

The Hong Kong Beach 5s
When: 21-22 March, 2015
Where: Repulse Bay Beach
How much: Free
More info: www.hkbeach5s.com

 

Hong Kong 0-7 Argentina @ HK Stadium – 14 October, 2014

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A second string Argentinean team barely got above walking pace as they out-classed a hard working Hong Kong side in the HKFA’s Centenary Match. A crowd of 20,000+ got what they came for though when Lionel Messi dazzled in a 30 minute cameo that had the crowd roaring in delight. Messi scored two goals – the first a lovely twisting run through the heart of HK’s defence – and set up a third to bring the enthusiastic crowd to life.

In truth it wasnt a great game, the gulf in class just too big – but Hong Kong could and should have scored on the counter-attack. In bringing his star names of the bench to entertain in the last 30 minutes, the fans were entertained and left happy. What more can you want from a friendly!

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Hong Kong Squad for Friendlies against Singapore and Argentina

Hong Kong’s squad for tonight’s international friendly against Singapore and Tuesday’s HK Football Association Centenary game against Argentina is announced. Match details below

Goalkeepers WANG Zhenpeng (Kitchee), YAPP Hung Fai (Eastern)
Defenders LEE Chi Ho (Eastern), Wisdom Fofo AGBO (Harbin Yiteng), NAEGELEIN Andy Hannes Ling Fung (Hunan Xiangtao F.C.), CHEUNG Kin Fung (Kitchee), CHAN Wai Ho, KWOK Kin Pong, SEALY, Jonathan Jack (South China), LEUNG Kwun Chung (YFCMD)
Midfielders HUANG Yang, LAM Ka Wai, LO Kwan Yee (Kitchee), CHAN Siu Kwan Philip, LEUNG Chun Pong (South China), JU Yingzhi (Sun Pegasus), WONG Wai (YFCMD)
Forwards LAM Hok Hei (Rangers), Christian Kwesi ANNAN, XU Deshuai (Kitchee), CHAN Man Fai (Sun Pegasus), CHAN Siu Ki, LEE Wai Lim (South China)

Match Details:

Hong Kong v Singapore
Where: Mong Kok
When: 8pm, 10 October, 2014
How Much:
More info: www.hkfa.org

HKFA Centennial Celebration Match: Hong Kong vs Argentina
When: 14 October, 2014
Where: Hong Kong Stadium
How much: $1800, $1300, $850, $590, $490 from Cityline.com
More info: www.hkfa.com