Hong Kong Football Association pulls plug on Lunar New Year Cup for fourth year
- Difficulty of getting quality overseas teams still a concern for staging international tournaments, says HKFA chief
- No international tournaments are currently in the works, but association says international football will return next summer
The Hong Kong Football Association has pulled the plug on its Lunar New Year Cup for a fourth straight year, but said international football will return next summer.
With the Lunar New Year due in just over a month, there is still no progress on the tournament, once hailed as the most important event on the local sports agenda.
“We may have to put the tournament on hold for another year,” association chairman Pui Kwan-kay said. “This is still not the appropriate time for bringing in overseas teams.
With the Qatar World Cup having just completed, Pui said bigger clubs will now focus on their domestic leagues, with less willingness to travel.
“If we bring in teams with no big names, it will be less attractive to the fans especially after they have watched some top class football in the World Cup,” he said.
