Lunar New Year Cup

Lunar New Year Cup
Organising bodyHKFA
Founded1908; 116 years ago (1908)
RegionHong Kong
Number of teams2
Current championsWorld Legends
Most successful club(s)Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI (7 titles)
2024 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, 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.[1]

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.[1]

Competition name and sponsorship

Year Name Sponsor
1983 Coupe du Solvil et Titus Hong Kong Solvil et Titus
1984 Adidas Gold Cup Germany Adidas
1986–89 Carlsberg Cup Denmark Carlsberg
1990–92 Marlboro Cup United States Malboro
1993–2006 Carlsberg Cup Denmark Carlsberg
2008 Wing Lung Bank Cup Hong Kong Wing Lung Bank
2010 Fortis Insurance Company Tiger Lunar New Year Cup[2] Hong Kong Fortis Insurance Company
2011 RedMR Asian Challenge Cup Hong Kong RedMR
2012 Nikon Asian Challenge Cup Japan Nikon
2013 China Mobile Satellite Communications Cup[3] Hong Kong China Mobile Satellite Communications
2014 AET Cup Hong Kong AET
2017 Nike Lunar New Year Cup[4] United States Nike
2019 Tonghai Financial Chinese New Year Cup[5] China China Tonghai Financial
2024 FWD Insurance Chinese New Year Cup[6] Hong Kong FWD Group

Results

Lunar New Year Cup – year by year
Year Final Third place match
Winner Score Runner-up Third place Score Fourth place
1908–73 [note 1] (Interport and exhibition matches)
1974  Hong Kong [note 2] Brazil CA Juventus Portugal Sporting CP
1975 [note 1] Argentina Independiente [note 2]  Hong Kong Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI
1976 [note 1] Switzerland Grasshopper [note 2] Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI  Hong Kong
1977 Netherlands Sparta Rotterdam [note 2]  Hong Kong Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI
1978  China [note 2] Switzerland Servette FC  Hong Kong
1979 China Guangdong [note 2] Sweden Östers IF Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI
1980 Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Red Star Belgrade [note 2] Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI  Hong Kong
1981 Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Dinamo Zagreb [note 2] Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI  Hong Kong
1982 Austria FK Austria Wien 1–0[7] South Korea Hallelujah FC Hong Kong Seiko SA 1–1
(5–3 p)
Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI
1983 Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI 2–0 South Korea Hallelujah FC Denmark AGF 3–1 China Beijing Selection
1984 Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia FK Partizan 1–0 Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI South Korea Daewoo Royals 2–1[8] Denmark Lyngby Boldklub
1985 Hong Kong Hong Kong League British XI 1–0 Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI China Guangzhou n/a China Shanghai
1986  Paraguay [note 2]  South Korea Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI
1987 Denmark Brøndby IF 2–0  Hong Kong China Beijing 1–0 China Shanghai
1988 Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI 0–0
(5–3 p)
Denmark AGF South Korea Lucky-Goldstar FC 3–0[9] China Dalian Shide
1989 Sweden Malmö FF [note 3]  China  Hong Kong [note 3] Denmark Odense BK
1990 Czechoslovakia Sparta Prague 2–0  China Soviet Union Spartak Moscow 4–1 Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI
1991 Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI 3–1 England Aston Villa Soviet Union FC Dynamo Moscow 2–0  Thailand
1992 Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI 2–2
(3–2 p)
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia FK Partizan Romania Steaua București 2–0 Switzerland BSC Young Boys Bern
1993   Switzerland 3–2 Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI Denmark Denmark U-21 2–1  Japan
1994  Denmark 2–0 Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI  Romania League XI 2–1  United States
1995 Federal Republic of Yugoslavia FR Yugoslavia 1–0  South Korea  Colombia 3–1 Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI
1996  Sweden 1–1
(5–4 p)
 Japan  Poland 1–0 Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI
1997  Russia 2–1   Switzerland Federal Republic of Yugoslavia FR Yugoslavia 3–1 Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI
1998  Nigeria 2–0 Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI  Iran 1–1
(4–2 p)
 Chile
1999  Mexico 3–0  Egypt  Bulgaria 3–0 Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI
2000  Czech Republic 2–1  Mexico  Japan 0–0
(6–5 p)
Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI
2001  Norway 2–1 Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI  South Korea 1–1
(6–5 p)
 Paraguay
2002  Honduras 1–0 Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI  Slovenia 0–0
(4–3 p)
 China
2003  Uruguay 1–1
(4–2 p)
 Iran Denmark Denmark League XI 2–1 Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI
2004  Norway 3–1  Honduras  Sweden 3–0 Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI
2005  Brazil 7–1  Hong Kong
(2 teams only)
2006  Denmark 3–1  South Korea  Croatia 4–0  Hong Kong
2007 Jamaica Jamaica Olympic Team 0–0
(5–4 p)
China China PR Olympic Team Australia Australia Olympic Team 2–2
(5–3 p)
Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI
2008 Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI 2–1 Croatia HNK Hajduk Split Uruguay Peñarol 1–1
(5–4 p)
South Korea Ulsan Hyundai
2009 Hong Kong South China & Pegasus United 2–1 Czech Republic Sparta Prague South Korea Suwon Samsung Bluewings 0–0
(5–4 p)
Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI
2010 South Korea Pohang Steelers [note 2] Hong Kong Kitchee Hong Kong Pegasus Invitation Team
2011 China Tianjin Teda 0–0
(5–3 p)
China Guangzhou Evergrande South Korea Ulsan Hyundai 4–2 Hong Kong South China
2012 South Korea Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma 5–1 Japan Shimizu S-Pulse China Guangzhou R&F 1–1
(3–1 p)
Hong Kong South China
2013 South Korea Busan IPark 1–0 China Shanghai East Asia Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI 1–0 Thailand Muangthong United
2014 Hong KongEcuador Citizen & Cuenca United 2–0 Portugal Olhanense Russia Krylia Sovetov 1–0 Japan FC Tokyo
2015 United States New York Cosmos 2–2
(4–2 p)
Hong Kong South China
(2 teams only)
2016 Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI 4–0 Hong Kong Hong Kong
(2 teams only)
2017 New Zealand Auckland City 1–0 Hong Kong Kitchee Thailand Muangthong United 1–0 South Korea FC Seoul
2018 Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI 4–3 Hong Kong Hong Kong
(2 teams only)
2019 China Shandong Luneng 3–1 Japan Sagan Tosu Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI 1–0 New Zealand Auckland City
2020 Cancelled [note 4]
2021
2022
2023
2024 World Legends 7–3 Hong Kong Hong Kong Legends
(2 teams only)
Notes
  1. ^ a b c Exhibition matches.[1]
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Three-team round-robin tournament
  3. ^ a b Four-team round-robin tournament
  4. ^ The 2020 to 2022 event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong and 2023 event due to safety concerns of Russian invasion of Ukraine.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b c Lunar New Year Cup Archived 2023-01-07 at the Wayback Machine by Neil Morrison at the RSSSF
  2. ^ "富通保險虎年賀歲盃". Archived from the original on 2017-10-08. Retrieved 2017-02-01.
  3. ^ "China Mobile Satellite Communications Cup Final Busan IPARK (KOR) 1:0 Shanghai East Asia (CHN)". Archived from the original on 2017-10-08. Retrieved 2017-02-01.
  4. ^ "Exciting Nike Lunar New Year Cup 2017 kicks-off Year of the Rooster on Saturday afternoon". Archived from the original on 2018-09-01. Retrieved 2017-02-01.
  5. ^ "TONGHAI FINANCIAL Chinese New Year Cup 2019". Archived from the original on 2019-02-09. Retrieved 2019-02-08.
  6. ^ "FWD Insurance Chinese New Year Cup". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2024-01-27.
  7. ^ "Hallelujah FC finished runners-up in Hongkong football tournament". Archived from the original on 2021-02-15. Retrieved 2017-01-30.
  8. ^ "Daewoo FC finished 3rd in Adidas Cup". Archived from the original on 2021-02-15. Retrieved 2017-01-30.
  9. ^ "Lucky-Goldstar FC finished 3rd Place in Carlsberg Cup". Archived from the original on 2021-02-15. Retrieved 2017-01-30.
  10. ^ Chan, Kin-wa. "Wuhan coronavirus: Lunar New Year Cup cancelled by government just hours after HKFA promotes the event". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 22 March 2020. Retrieved 23 January 2020.

External links

  • Lunar New Year Cup results RSSSF
  • HKFA Website 漫談賀歲足球賽事(一) (in Chinese)
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