Three top Olympic teams for Lunar showpiece
Three Olympic football teams will take part in the 2007 Lunar New Year Cup next month.
The Hong Kong Football Association has invited Olympic teams from Australia, China and Jamaica to compete with the Hong Kong League XI at the tournament, which was originally called the Lunar New Year Carlsberg Cup.
Both Australia and Jamaica are preparing for the qualifying rounds of the 2008 Olympic Games in the hope of joining the hosts, China, who are currently training in Europe.
The event marks the return to Hong Kong of Velibor 'Bora' Milutinovic, who led China to their first-ever appearance in a World Cup finals in 2002. The 62-year-old Yugoslav - better known as 'Milu' on the mainland - is the only man to take charge of five different World Cup teams.
He will coach the Jamaican squad as they prepare for the Beijing 2008 qualifying competition involving North and Central American and Caribbean countries.
Australia, who reached the quarter-finals in Athens in 2004, will be using Hong Kong as their base for most of next month. After playing the home leg of their first-round qualifier against Chinese-Taipei, they will immediately fly to Hong Kong to begin their training camp.
They will be in Hong Kong from February 8-13 before playing the away leg in Taipei on February 14.
The 2007 Lunar New Year Cup will be played over the first and fourth days of the Lunar New Year holiday at the Hong Kong Stadium. The tournament will be staged on a knockout format.
There will be two matches on the first day of the Lunar New Year on February 18, followed by the third/fourth place play-off and final on on February 21.
Details about the draw and ticketing arrangements will be announced at a later date.
Kick-off times
Day 1 - February 18
Match 1 - 3.15pm
Match 2 - 5.15pm
Day 2 - February 21
Third/fourth place play-off - 6pm
Final - 8.15pm
