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Counting down to the Hong Kong Football Festival

Liverpool, AC Milan, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur will go head to head when the 4 high-profile clubs come to town next week

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Tottenham Hotspur’s South Korean star Son Heung-min could be featuring in the Hong Kong Football Festival. Photo: DPA

Published: 12:45pm, 18 Jul 2025Updated: 1:01pm, 18 Jul 2025

This month, Hong Kong hosts the much-anticipated Hong Kong Football Festival 2025 at the newly opened Kai Tak Stadium.

Bringing together four of Europe’s most high-profile clubs – Liverpool, AC Milan, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur – it’s the city’s latest stab at a large-scale sporting event, following the now infamous Messi-less exhibition match played between Inter Miami CF and Hong Kong League XI in February 2024.

Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka. Four of the biggest football clubs in Europe – Arsenal, Spurs, Liverpool and AC Milan – will descend on Hong Kong next week. Photo: AFP

The two headlining matches see AC Milan and Liverpool competing for the Standard Chartered Trophy on July 26, and a face-off between fierce rivals Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur on July 31, in what will be the first-ever North London derby to be held outside Britain.

With more than 48,000 fans expected at each game, the festival is set to draw the largest-ever football crowd in Hong Kong.

Christian Pulisic of AC Milan could be jetting in for the Hong Kong Football Festival. Photo: Getty Images

“There are few bigger occasions in English football than a North London derby,” says Ryan Norys, the chief revenue officer for Tottenham Hotspur, “and to play this fixture in Hong Kong will be a huge occasion for our passionate fan base across Asia.”

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