Hong Kong’s footballers could play China, Chinese Taipei regularly in new league
Asian chiefs planning new Nations League similar to the one in Europe, aimed at raising standards and revenue
Football chiefs in Asia plan to launch a new Nations League, opening up the prospect of Hong Kong playing more regular games against the likes of China, Chinese Taipei and others in the region.
Officials at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) said the new competition would be aimed at improving standards and commercial opportunities for international teams across the continent.
While no start date was given by the Kuala Lumpur-based governing body, it said it intended to use existing Fifa international windows to run the competition.
The next of those is in March, when Hong Kong will face India in an Asian Cup qualifier that is now meaningless after Hong Kong’s hopes were ended by their loss to Singapore last month.
In a statement announcing the move, the AFC acknowledged the challenges teams faced in arranging games against opponents of similar strength, and in dealing with rising costs and logistical complexities, “often diminishing the sporting value of international fixtures”.