News and notes from the Premier League’s press conference on Monday. The league’s 12th season kicks off on Friday night with an Eastern-Kitchee derby.
The Premier League held its annual season opening press conference on Monday with representatives from all participating clubs and sponsors present. A total of ten teams will contest the league this season where they will play a double round-robin before being split into a championship-challenging group format.
Joining the top flight for the first time are Eastern District, who will be playing their home matches at Siu Sai Wan Sports Ground. The club are coached by former Hong Kong team player, Ng Wai-chiu, while the squad is captained by former Kitchee stalwart Hélio.
Though Eastern District’s home ground has been settled, the same cannot be said for Kitchee. According to the schedule released by the HKFA two weeks ago, the club are set to play their first two home matches at Mong Kok Stadium before playing the remainder of their home fixtures at Tseung Kwan O Sports Ground once the venue reopens in January. However, the club have put out a statement insisting that they are “still trying” to have Kai Tak Youth Sports Ground as their home ground.
“The HKFA must help the team to get the best conditions (at Kai Tak),” the HKFA’s general secretary, Charles Cheung, said after the press conference. “We can’t make rash decisions before we have a solid plan.”
Rent at the private facility is rumoured to cost upwards of $90,000 per match, a much higher rate than publicly owned sports ground operated by the LCSD. Cheung, however, claimed that rent was not the biggest obstacle and revealed that the HKFA could still arrange for a cup final to be moved to the Youth Sports Ground later in the season.
“It’s not just rent – it’s the fact that the stadium is too accessible (to spectators without tickets). There are many issues we need to discuss, such as whether and how to close off the area around stadium. We hope to make the venue more professional and more suitable for hosting Premier League football.”
Eastern were the only side not to send any players or coaches to the press conference (Credit: Eastern District)
Cheung also confirmed that VAR will not be available for every match, owing to the increase in teams and matches. As some matches will overlap with others, the HKFA’s VAR room continues to lack the equipment to handle three simultaneous matches.
“Our inclination is to stick with the two sets of equipment that we have. We think it’s enough,” the general secretary said. “But with there being 10 teams and possibly up to three matches a day, it will be similar to how we implemented VAR in the first season (2023-24) where we can only cover most, but not all matches. Each team shall have the same number of matches covered by VAR to ensure no unfair advantage.”
In past seasons, VAR was used for all FA Cup matches but only used for Senior Shield matches beyond the quarterfinals, and no Sapling Cup matches. Cheung said that the HFKA have yet to decide which cups will be covered by VAR this season.
Speaking of the Sapling Cup, the youth focused tournament has been retired and will be replaced by the return of the League Cup. The tournament will be a pure knockout competition which will primarily run during international breaks and teams will be allowed to feature an unlimited number of foreign players.
Charles Cheung (Credit: inmediahk)
The other big topic of conversation over the offseason is the resumption of promotion and relegation between the Premier League and the First Division based on points. Previously, the system had been suspended due to the COVID pandemic and other considerations, but teams could still apply to be promoted or relegated on non-sporting criteria.
Cheung had made the announcement as part of plans to revamp the league, which later resulted in the decision to bring back the championship-challenging group format. After each team has played 18 matches each, the top five teams in the table will play another single round-robin to determine the league champion. Likewise, the bottom five teams will play a single round-robin, with the bottom team relegated.
Points from the double round-robin carry over, meaning that a champion or a relegated team could be determined weeks before the final matchday of the season.
There has been debate in football community as to whether enforced relegation is necessary at a time when economic recovery post-pandemic is slow, the number of investors is few, and when the number of teams from year to year is uncertain. The HKFA were fortunate in that no teams pulled out last season after Sham Shui Po and Resources Capital withdrew the year before.
What is new this season is that, for the first time ever, the Competition Regulations have been amended to give the top two teams in the First Division table the right to promote as opposed to just the champions. Though it is not necessary to finish near the top of the league in order to promote – as evidenced by Eastern District – the decision to promote two teams is notable as it reflects growing confidence on the part of the HKFA that they can find investors who want their clubs to play in the Premier League.
Supreme’s owner Jim Wong, an executive at Live Nation Electronic Asia, has already started preparing his club for promotion at the end of the season. Yuen Long are said to be interested once the reconstruction of Yuen Long Stadium is complete. Kwun Tong, who were promoted to the First Division this season, want to go up “within five years”. There are others in the lower divisions who have quietly began exploring the possibility as well.
Should two clubs promote while one goes down, there will be an odd number of teams once again in next season’s Premier League. The HKFA could even things out by inviting a club from outside of Hong Kong to join, such as Canton United, whose bid was rejected this season.
As always, there are many variables at play and just as it is likely that a team will be relegated on merit, it just as likely that another will self-relegate due to financial difficulties. Any club that finishes in the top two of the First Division will need to submit an application the the board and face the same scrutiny as any other club that have been promoted in the league’s history.
And so, for the Premier League, each of these subplots creates an interesting layer of intrigue in what promises to be a fascinating year in the league’s history.
