Sad news for our readers based in Hong Kong!
It is understood that Manchester United explored the possibility of visiting China this summer for a pre-season friendly match, but now Hong Kong is out of the equation due to authorities being unable to relax their COVID-19 restrictions.
Hong Kong has some of the strictest COVID-19 restrictions in the world, as the city deals with a fifth wave of infections, so it doesn’t make sense for United to go there this year.
This is sure to come as a blow to supporters who have not seen the Reds play in the city since July 2013, when David Moyes was in charge of the first team.
United hope to embark on their first ‘proper’ pre-season tour in two years, but that will depend on COVID-19 cases and restrictions in their preferred destinations.
Hong Kong Football Association (HKFA) chairman Pui Kwan-kay says United were keen to visit the area this summer, but talks have broken down.
“They showed interest in coming to Hong Kong this summer and of course we welcome them because Manchester United has a great following here and there is no need to worry about the gate receipts,” Pui told the South China Morning Post.
“Also, we want to instil more positive energy into the community during these hard times under the pandemic and an exciting international football match can certainly do the job.
“However, the deal eventually fell through as the authorities were unable to make any promises on relaxing the strict quarantine requirements for overseas visitors, even if the match will not take place until several months later. And in the end the Premier League side of course chose not to come because no team can spare that amount of time for quarantine before playing a match.”
