In response to the development of the fifth wave of the epidemic, all competitions of the Hong Kong Professional Football League-Hong Kong Super League will be cut in half this season.
The fifth wave of the new crown pneumonia epidemic in Hong Kong is severe. The number of confirmed cases in a single day has increased exponentially. The government has further tightened anti-epidemic measures, and the stadiums under the LCSD will reopen indefinitely.
The local professional football league has been suspended since the beginning of January, and more than 20 top league matches have been rescheduled so far.
The 8 clubs in the Hong Kong Super League have recently had professional players infected with the virus. According to figures released by the Football Association, the total number has temporarily reached 28.
Epidemic ︱ A total of 28 people from the Hong Kong Super League have initially been confirmed across all football clubs and the Football Association has employees infected with the epidemic and closed for disinfection
The Hong Kong Super Football League was cut in half under the epidemic.
(File photo/Photo by Yuan Zhihao)
The FA held a video conference today with representatives of the Hong Kong Super League clubs. At the meeting, most of the clubs agreed to cancel all competitions for the rest of the season, including the Hong Kong Super League, the Elite Cup and the FA Cup, which will determine the qualifications for next season's Asian competition. The final was the first time the local top football league was cut in half since World War II.
The FA confirmed in the afternoon that with the consensus of the eight participating clubs, the Hong Kong Super League and all cup matches will be cancelled this season.
Chief Executive Tam Qiulang described the decision as difficult, saying that the FA has been trying its best to discuss with the government and the club in the past two months, hoping to find a feasible solution to continue the season.
"Unfortunately, the epidemic is getting worse and there are still many uncertainties in the development of the epidemic. Due to the lack of training for a long time, the players need to resume training for about three to four weeks to prepare for the game. It is really difficult to plan the rest of the schedule."
It is understood that the club believes that even if the government can reopen the venue on April 20 as scheduled, the team will still need to spend about 3 weeks of training to regain its form. The preparation for departure makes it difficult to arrange local events at all due to overlapping schedules.
Taking into account issues such as player contracts, the club decided not to postpone the game until September of that year as in the 2019/20 season.
Asian Cup Qualifiers︱ Hong Kong Football Team will go to India in June to compete for the qualifying new coach admits that the epidemic hinders preparations
Sources said that the parties did not make any conclusions on the rankings of this year's league or how to allocate the qualifications for next season's Asian competition, and it is expected to hold another meeting to discuss.
However, most clubs agree that the next season will start early on the premise that the epidemic situation improves. It is tentatively scheduled to hold a cup match in July as a warm-up. Clubs will be allowed to freely decide whether to participate; the league will officially start no earlier than August 20.
The Football Association said that it will continue to closely monitor the development of the epidemic in Hong Kong and keep in touch with relevant government departments. It is also exploring the possibility of arranging the Hong Kong team to go out for training in preparation for the Asian Cup qualifiers. If there is further information, it will be announced as soon as possible.
FA President Bei Junqi.
(file picture)
In an interview, FA President Bei Junqi believed that cutting in half was a wise decision.
He revealed the arrangement of seats for the next season's Asian competition. As the Asian Football Association implemented the next AFC Champions League and the AFC Cup into a New Year's system, the competition is expected to be held in the second half of next year, and the FA tends to use the results of future competitions to decide.
"We've only played a few games now, and the ranking is unfair. Although some clubs have indicated that they do not compete with Dongfang, Kit-chi and Lee Man, they still hope to reduce the controversy."
He also said that at present, all walks of life in Hong Kong are affected by the epidemic, and the sponsorship of future competitions may be affected, but some teams have stated that they will continue to participate in the competition.
In addition to Jiezhi's intention to go to Thailand next month to prepare for the AFC Champions League, Bei Junqi pointed out that the local team is also considering the Hong Kong team to prepare for the AFC Cup, because the conditions such as the venue in Thailand are ideal, and it is also in line with the budget.
The restructuring of the AFC Champions League will benefit the Hong Kong Super League volleyball team from the 23/24 season to relax the foreign aid limit and change to "5+1" Hong Kong women's football goalkeeper makes history again 290,000 was banned by FIFA Bei Junqi: They have always dealt with unpaid wages in this way. Xu Yingwei resigned. During his tenure, he helped the club to host the 11-player stadium in the Asian Association under the epidemic. Au Weilun's single-handed cross from Brazil's Hong Kong team is reminiscent. Former Hong Kong football coach Jin Dangkun will take charge of the Malaysian national team in June this year or turn his back and give a thousand-word testimonial
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