Hong Kong Football Festival: Arsenal training session draws mainland China, Macau fans
Excitement at public training session in Kai Tak Stadium, before Arsenal’s clash with Tottenham Hotspur there on Thursday
Arsenal fans descended on Kai Tak Stadium on Wednesday for a first glimpse of their idols in the flesh at the Hong Kong Football Festival.
The Gunners, who last played in Hong Kong 13 years ago, held a public training session at the 50,000-capacity Kowloon venue.
Cheung Pak-ling, an Arsenal fanatic from the New Territories, said he had “been waiting for this day for a very long time”. “I’ve never seen them live – it’s going to be so different,” he said.
He introduced Arsenal to his wife, who gave her name as Mrs Cheung, when the pair began dating more than a decade ago.
The pair have happily forked out a total of HK$9,394 (US$1,197) for six tickets for Arsenal’s clash with Tottenham Hotspur at the stadium on Thursday.
“I wasn’t interested in football, but now I find it an amazing and attractive world,” Mrs Cheung said. “Since we were together, he’s been talking about when Arsenal would come to Hong Kong.”