The HKFC Soccer Sevens or Hong Kong Soccer Sevens, known as the HKFC Standard Chartered Soccer Sevens for sponsorship purposes, is an annual invitational seven-a-side football tournament which is organised and hosted by Hong Kong Football Club.South China Morning Post - Plenty of Potential for Hong Kong Soccer Sevens. Retrieved 13 November 2013. Held since 1999, many young professional players have made a name for themselves in the tournament.
The competition ran from 1999 to 2019, with a break due to the SARS outbreak in Hong Kong in 2003. In 2020, the organisers confirmed that the competition would not be happening that year due to the ongoing issues in Hong Kong - promising to be back in 2021, but this did not happen with the tournament's website going offline. In 2023, the organisers confirmed that the competition would return after a four-year hiatus.
In 2024, the organisers announced that a women's edition of the tournament would take place alongside the men's.
Format The event features two competitions, a Main Tournament and Masters Tournament. The 16-team Main Tournament is open age group (players must be at least 16) and features mostly youth and academy teams from clubs in Europe playing against more senior players from leagues around Asia. The 10-team Masters Tournament is for players aged 35 and over and features former players from Europe's top leagues. Players such as Jürgen Klinsmann, John Barnes, Andy Cole, Matt Le Tissier, Des Walker, Didier Six, Mustapha Hadji, Peter Beardsley, Craig Armstrong, David Johnson, Des Lyttle, Jason Lee, and Michael Thomas have competed in this category. Each game has two seven-minute halves with a one-minute half-time break, while the finals are 10 minutes each half with a three-minute break at half-time. There are two stages: the group stage followed by the knockout stage. In the Main group stage, teams compete within four groups of four teams each. Each group plays a round-robin tournament, in which each team is scheduled for three matches against other teams in the same group. The top two teams from each group advance to the Cup knockout stage while the bottom two advance to the Plate knockout stage. In the Masters Tournament, the 12 teams are split into three groups of four teams. The knockout stage is a single-elimination tournament in which teams play each other in one-off matches, with penalty shootouts and sudden death used to decide the winner if necessary. It begins with the quarter-finals in which the third-placed team plays against the fourth-placed team in Plate and the winner of each group plays against the runner-up of another group in Cup. This is followed by the semi-finals and the final. The Main Tournament has an additional Shield competition which is contested by the four losing teams of the Cup quarter-finals. The Shield is also a single-elimination tournament of similar format. The Cup is regarded as the highest honour, followed by the Shield and Plate.
Past winners Men Source SeasonTitle SponsorMain CupMain ShieldMain PlateMasters CupPlayer of the Tournament1999None Blackburn RoversCarling All StarsJon-Paul McGovern2000Philips Lighting Instant DictLorenz All StarsLeon Knight2001 ArsenalInstant Dict VeteransLiam Chilvers2002 Aston VillaPhilips All StarsJonathan Bewers2003Not Held due to SARS outbreakCeltic Programmes Online - CELTIC IN THE HKFC INTERNATIONAL SOCCER SEVENS2004Philips Lighting Aston VillaPhilips All StarsStephen Cooke2005 Urawa Red Diamonds KitcheeLorenz All StarsSergio Escudero2006 Urawa Red DiamondsLorenz All StarsGabriel Agbonlahor2007 Aston VillaLorenz All StarsZoltán Stieber2008 Aston Villa Urawa Red Diamonds PSV EindhovenRangers LegendsBarry Bannan2009IP Global Celtic Daejeon Citizen Birmingham CityGolden RainbowPaul McGowan2010 Aston Villa Ajax EastleighKokusai F.C. TokyoAndrew Shinnie2011Citibank Kitchee Daejeon Citizen HKFC Captain's SelectTop Class F.C.Ubay Luzardo2012 Newcastle United Leicester City West Ham UnitedAegon AFC All StarsDaniel Johnson2013 Leicester City Aston Villa Hong Kong RangersRangers All StarsHarry Panayiotou2014 Manchester City Aston Villa Leicester CityAegon Ajax All StarsBrandon Barker2015 Atlético Madrid Hong Kong Rangers Hong Kong FCUSRC-BTSSamuel Sáiz2016Citi Aston Villa Leicester City Stoke CityCiti All StarsKhalid Abdo2017 Leicester City West Ham United Bayer LeverkusenCiti All StarsJosh Eppiah2018 Newcastle United Aston Villa Newcastle JetsDiscovery BayVíctor Fernández2019 Newcastle United Wolverhampton Wanderers Aston VillaWallsend Boys ClubElias Sørensen2020Not held due to COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing Hong Kong protests202120222023Citi Aston Villa Newcastle United RangersWallsend Boys ClubOmari Kellyman2024Standard Chartered Brighton & Hove Albion Leicester City Yokohama F. MarinosPFA All StarsLuca Barrington2025 AZ Alkmaar Western United HKFC Captain's SelectAmpcontrol Discovery BayKiyani Zeggen2026 Brighton & Hove Albion West Ham United Lee ManYau Yee League All StarsTyler Silsby
Women +YearTitle SponsorCup WinnerShield WinnerPlate WinnerPlayer of the Tournament2024Standard Chartered Chelsea FC Soccer School Hong Kong FCAnke Leung2025 Kitchee TSL Hong Kong FCCheung Wai Ki2026 Urawa Red Diamonds Kitchee Eastern Thunder Records Source: +TeamCup WinsShield WinsPlate Wins Aston Villa7 (2002, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2016, 2023)3 (2013, 2014, 2018)1 (2019) Newcastle United3 (2012, 2018, 2019)1 (2023)0 Leicester City2 (2013, 2017)3 (2012, 2016, 2024)1 (2014) Urawa Red Diamonds2 (2005, 2006)1 (2008)0 Brighton & Hove Albion2 (2024, 2026)00 Kitchee1 (2011)01 (2005) Arsenal1 (2001)00 Atlético Madrid1 (2015)00 AZ Alkmaar1 (2025)00 Blackburn Rovers1 (1999)00 Celtic1 (2009)00 Instant Dict1 (2000)00 Manchester City1 (2014)00 West Ham United02 (2017, 2026)1 (2012) Daejeon Citizen02 (2009, 2011)0 Hong Kong Rangers01 (2015)1 (2013) Ajax01 (2010)0 Western United01 (2025)0 Wolverhampton Wanderers01 (2019)0 HKFC Captain's Select002 (2011, 2025) Bayer Leverkusen001 (2017) Birmingham City001 (2009) Eastleigh001 (2010) Hong Kong FC001 (2015) Lee Man001 (2026) Newcastle Jets001 (2018) PSV Eindhoven001 (2008) Rangers001 (2023) Stoke City001 (2016) Yokohama F. Marinos001 (2024)
References
External links Hong Kong Soccer Sevens Official Website