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Lunar New Year Cup

FieldValue
nameLunar New Year Cup
founded
organiserHKFA
regionHong Kong
number of teams2
current championsWorld Legends
most successful clubHKG Hong Kong League XI (7 titles)
current2025 Lunar New Year Cup

The Lunar New Year Cup, previously known as the Carlsberg Challenge or the Carlsberg Cup, is an annual invitational football tournament organised in Hong Kong by the Hong Kong Football Association (HKFA) since 1908. It is usually held on the first and the fourth day of the Lunar New Year as a part of the new year celebrations. The tournament was called the Carlsberg Cup from 1986 to 1989 and from 1993 to 2006 as Carlsberg was the major sponsor of the event.

Since the 2007 edition of the event, the competition has officially been known as the "Lunar New Year Cup" by the Hong Kong Football Association. This is because Carlsberg is now no longer the major sponsor but a mere co-sponsor. During 2011 and 2012, the name of the event was changed to "Asian Challenge Cup".

History

Initially, a touring team (usually European) visited Hong Kong playing exhibition matches vs local combined. In the period before and around the Second World War, the Lunar New Year Cup was competed for by teams from Hong Kong and mainland China. Since 1950, HKFA has invited at least one overseas team to enter the competition. Before 1982, there were three exhibition matches in the tournament. The first two were usually played by the Hong Kong national football team, Hong Kong player team and Hong Kong League XI while the Chinese XI played the last match.

In 1983, there was a main sponsorship for the competition for the first time and the number of invited teams was increased to three. From 1993 onwards, national teams rather than club teams were invited to participate in the competition. Many of the matches in that period were recognised as "full internationals" by FIFA.

Competition name and sponsorship

YearNameSponsor
1983Coupe du Solvil et TitusHKG Solvil et Titus
1984Adidas Gold CupGER Adidas
1986–89Carlsberg CupDEN Carlsberg
1990–92Marlboro CupUSA Marlboro
1993–2006Carlsberg CupDEN Carlsberg
2008Wing Lung Bank CupHKG Wing Lung Bank
2010Fortis Insurance Company Tiger Lunar New Year CupHKG Fortis Insurance Company
2011RedMR Asian Challenge CupHKG RedMR
2012Nikon Asian Challenge CupJPN Nikon
2013China Mobile Satellite Communications CupHKG China Mobile Satellite Communications
2014AET CupHKG AET
2017Nike Lunar New Year CupUSA Nike
2019Tonghai Financial Chinese New Year CupCHN China Tonghai Financial
2024–25FWD Insurance Chinese New Year CupHKG FWD Group

Results

YearFinalThird place matchWinnerScoreRunner-upThird placeScoreFourth place
1908–73(Interport and exhibition matches)
1974****—Brazil CA JuventusPortugal Sporting CP
1975Argentina Independiente—Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI
1976Switzerland Grasshopper—Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI
1977Netherlands Sparta Rotterdam—Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI
1978****—Switzerland Servette FC
1979China Guangdong—Sweden Östers IFHong Kong Hong Kong League XI
1980Yugoslavia Red Star Belgrade—Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI
1981Yugoslavia Dinamo Zagreb—Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI
1982Austria FK Austria Wien1–0South Korea Hallelujah FCHong Kong Seiko SA1–1
(5–3 p)Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI
1983Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI2–0South Korea Hallelujah FCDenmark AGF3–1China Beijing Selection
1984Yugoslavia FK Partizan1–0Hong Kong Hong Kong League XISouth Korea Daewoo Royals2–1Denmark Lyngby Boldklub
1985Hong Kong Hong Kong League British XI1–0Hong Kong Hong Kong League XIChina Guangzhoun/aChina Shanghai
1986****—Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI
1987Denmark Brøndby IF2–0China Beijing1–0China Shanghai
1988Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI0–0
(5–3 p)Denmark AGFSouth Korea Lucky-Goldstar FC3–0China Dalian Shide
1989Sweden Malmö FF——Denmark Odense BK
1990Czechoslovakia Sparta Prague2–0Soviet Union Spartak Moscow4–1Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI
1991Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI3–1England Aston VillaSoviet Union FC Dynamo Moscow2–0
1992Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI2–2
(3–2 p)Yugoslavia FK PartizanRomania Steaua București2–0Switzerland BSC Young Boys Bern
1993****3–2Hong Kong Hong Kong League XIDenmark Denmark U-212–1
1994****2–0Hong Kong Hong Kong League XILeague XI2–1
1995FR Yugoslavia FR Yugoslavia1–03–1Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI
1996****1–1
(5–4 p)1–0Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI
1997****2–1FR Yugoslavia FR Yugoslavia3–1Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI
1998****2–0Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI1–1
(4–2 p)
1999****3–03–0Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI
2000****2–10–0
(6–5 p)Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI
2001****2–1Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI1–1
(6–5 p)
2002****1–0Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI0–0
(4–3 p)
2003****1–1
(4–2 p)Denmark Denmark League XI2–1Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI
2004****3–13–0Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI
2005****7–1
2006****3–14–0
2007Jamaica Jamaica Olympic Team0–0
(5–4 p)China China PR Olympic TeamAustralia Australia Olympic Team2–2
(5–3 p)Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI
2008Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI2–1Croatia HNK Hajduk SplitUruguay Peñarol1–1
(5–4 p)South Korea Ulsan Hyundai
2009Hong Kong South China & Pegasus United2–1Czech Republic Sparta PragueSouth Korea Suwon Samsung Bluewings0–0
(5–4 p)Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI
2010South Korea Pohang Steelers—Hong Kong KitcheeHong Kong Pegasus Invitation Team
2011CHN Tianjin Teda0–0
(5–3 p)CHN Guangzhou EvergrandeKOR Ulsan Hyundai4–2HKG South China
2012KOR Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma5–1JPN Shimizu S-PulseCHN Guangzhou R&F1–1
(3–1 p)HKG South China
2013KOR Busan IPark1–0CHN Shanghai East AsiaHKG Hong Kong League XI1–0THA Muangthong United
2014HKGECU Citizen & Cuenca United2–0POR OlhanenseRUS Krylia Sovetov1–0JPN FC Tokyo
2015USA New York Cosmos2–2
(4–2 p)HKG South China
2016HKG Hong Kong League XI4–0HKG Hong Kong
2017NZL Auckland City1–0HKG KitcheeTHA Muangthong United1–0KOR FC Seoul
2018HKG Hong Kong League XI4–3HKG Hong Kong
2019CHN Shandong Luneng3–1JPN Sagan TosuHKG Hong Kong League XI1–0NZL Auckland City
2020Cancelled
2021
2022
2023
2024World Legends7–3HKG Hong Kong Legends
2025World Legends3–3
(6–5 p)HKG Hong Kong Legends

;Notes

References

References

  1. [https://www.rsssf.org/tablesh/hk-carls.html Lunar New Year Cup] {{Webarchive. link. (2023-01-07 by Neil Morrison at the RSSSF)
  2. "富通保險虎年賀歲盃".
  3. "China Mobile Satellite Communications Cup Final Busan IPARK (KOR) 1:0 Shanghai East Asia (CHN)".
  4. "Exciting Nike Lunar New Year Cup 2017 kicks-off Year of the Rooster on Saturday afternoon".
  5. "TONGHAI FINANCIAL Chinese New Year Cup 2019".
  6. "FWD Insurance Chinese New Year Cup".
  7. "Hallelujah FC finished runners-up in Hongkong football tournament".
  8. "Daewoo FC finished 3rd in Adidas Cup".
  9. "Lucky-Goldstar FC finished 3rd Place in Carlsberg Cup".
  10. "Wuhan coronavirus: Lunar New Year Cup cancelled by government just hours after HKFA promotes the event".
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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