Local football season unlikely to resume before Lunar New Year because of the latest round of social-distancing measures
- Football Association chairman Pui Kwan-kay says there are no plans to extend the season beyond June
- The Hong Kong Premier League was suspended in late November not long after the season kicked off in October
The local football season is unlikely to resume before the Lunar New Year holiday because of the city’s extended social-distancing measures and there are no plans to prolong the season beyond its original schedule, a senior official warned.
The current season has been halted since late November following the latest wave of the pandemic that has forced the government to close all venues and Football Association chairman, Pui Kwan-kay, believes the trend will continue for at least a few more weeks.
“There has been some progress in the latest pandemic [with fewer cases] but I don’t think it would be strong enough for us to obtain the green light to restart the season soon,” said Pui. “We have been in close contact with the government who have decided to extend the existing group gathering rules for two more weeks for safety reasons.
“At this stage, it will be very difficult for the government to reopen the venues, not even for team training which is a prerequisite for the season restart. Hopefully there would be some changes on the rules later this month so that clubs can train again and start their preparations for resuming the season after the Lunar New Year.”
The football chief, however, made it clear they did not want to see the season being extended beyond June even if it continues to be disrupted. The current season only started in late October, two weeks after the previous season was completed but was then halted a few weeks later as the pandemic turned the domestic football calendar upside down.