Anybody with a leaning to booting balls around will remember that last year we cheered the kick-off of the Diadora Football League. Recently we revisited the new league and found six teams playing outdoor games on Sundays and eight playing mid-week indoor matches. And we also discovered the newly opened Diadora Football Academy – Phillipe Bru was on hand again to tell us all about it...

How is the Diadora Football Academy (also called Football for Life) progressing?
We just started our first training session last Saturday with underprivileged Hong Kong children. I think it is a great achievement because at first it was just an idea to help out. From nothing we started our own society, which is Football for Life. We did our homework and went to all these social services and within a week we had 120 children. Other than football, we will take these kids to the movies, museums, Disney Land, Ocean Park… I think it is fantastic.

Back to the league – the players are fined for any cards or mistakes they incur, like $100 for a yellow and $300 for a red card. How much have these fines raised so far?
We have $3,000 from each team so far which makes it $18,000 in total for six teams. Plus in the second part of the season, I am sure more money will be coming in for charity.

Do the players behave better because of the fines?
(Chuckle) What can I say? They behave like normal amateur players. My experience tells me the teams we have right now really behave well. Occasionally we have a yellow or red card, but I think we have only one or two red cards so far, which is good.

Are you happy with the league so far?
Of course. Right now we have enough teams and people are happy about it. We are accepting applications so hopefully we may move from having six to 12 teams and become a bigger league. Also more money will go to charity, which is fantastic.

And a final question: which team will win the Premier League?
For me, I am an Arsenal fan.

The league is now accepting applications for the spring season, running from February 25 to June. Click www.diadoraleague.com or email aafc88@gmail.com for details.

Lunar New Year Cup
The Carlsberg Cup is no more, the difficulty ingettingquality teams and players to cross the world in the middle of a competitive season amidst conflicting club v country issues has proved too much. But thank you Carlsberg for some great football action over the years. The Lunar New Year Cup continues under a slightly different format with the Australian, Chinese and Jamaican Olympic teams taking on a Hong Kong League XI. An Olympic team is essentially an ‘under-23’ team and with the Olympics just over a year away a lot of young talent will be looking to impress.

What: 2007 Lunar New Year Cup
Where: Hong Kong Stadium
When: February 18 & 21; first match 3:15pm Enquiries and ticketing details: TBC

Just Kick It
The 6th Nike HK Football Five is kicking off again this month. Four preliminary rounds will take place and the final will be on April 14 and 15. The winner of the tournament will represent the SAR and take part in the Asian Football Five Championship and of course, some Nike coupons. For the men’s open and men’s under 18s, each match lasts 25 minutes while the other matches last 20 minutes, all without half-time break.

What: Nike HK Football Five Preliminary Round
When: January 27-28 Where: Wong Chuk Hang Recreation Ground, Aberdeen How much: Free
Enquiries: www.nikefootball.com.hk