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Hong Kong Soccer Sevens cancelled amid coronavirus outbreak

  • Organisers cite difficulty ‘to deliver an event of the scale and quality that is expected’ as city battles virus
  • Annual fixture, which was also cancelled because of SARS in 2003, will be back for 2021, organisers vow

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Newcastle United celebrate winning the HKFC Citi Soccer Sevens in 2019. Photo: Eurasia Sport Images/HKFC Citi Soccer Sevens 2019
This year’s HKFC Citi Soccer Sevens has been cancelled, organisers announced on Thursday as the city battles the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.
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“Given the current situation the HKFC Citi Soccer Sevens committee has taken the difficult decision to cancel the HKFC Citi Soccer Sevens 2020 event,” they said.

Tournament director Chris Plowman put this down to “the difficulty in securing the necessary commitments to be able to deliver an event of the scale and quality that is expected of the Soccer Sevens”.

“Naturally we are very disappointed and we would like to thank all the teams, sponsors, stakeholders and fans who had committed to the 2020 event. We will be back in 2021 and look forward to seeing you then,” he said.

The 2020 Soccer Sevens had been expected to be played at Hong Kong Football Club over the weekend of May 22-24.

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