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.

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

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

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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

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

Results

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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]   CA Juventus   Sporting CP
1975 [note 1]   Independiente [note 2]   Hong Kong   Hong Kong League XI
1976 [note 1]   Grasshopper [note 2]   Hong Kong League XI   Hong Kong
1977   Sparta Rotterdam [note 2]   Hong Kong   Hong Kong League XI
1978   China [note 2]   Servette FC   Hong Kong
1979   Guangdong [note 2]   Östers IF   Hong Kong League XI
1980   Red Star Belgrade [note 2]   Hong Kong League XI   Hong Kong
1981   Dinamo Zagreb [note 2]   Hong Kong League XI   Hong Kong
1982   FK Austria Wien 1–0[7]   Hallelujah FC   Seiko SA 1–1
(5–3 p)
  Hong Kong League XI
1983   Hong Kong League XI 2–0   Hallelujah FC   AGF 3–1   Beijing Selection
1984   FK Partizan 1–0   Hong Kong League XI   Daewoo Royals 2–1[8]   Lyngby Boldklub
1985   Hong Kong League British XI 1–0   Hong Kong League XI   Guangzhou n/a   Shanghai
1986   Paraguay [note 2]   South Korea   Hong Kong League XI
1987   Brøndby IF 2–0   Hong Kong   Beijing 1–0   Shanghai
1988   Hong Kong League XI 0–0
(5–3 p)
  AGF   Lucky-Goldstar FC 3–0[9]   Dalian Shide
1989   Malmö FF [note 3]   China   Hong Kong [note 3]   Odense BK
1990   Sparta Prague 2–0   China   Spartak Moscow 4–1   Hong Kong League XI
1991   Hong Kong League XI 3–1   Aston Villa   FC Dynamo Moscow 2–0   Thailand
1992   Hong Kong League XI 2–2
(3–2 p)
  FK Partizan   Steaua București 2–0   BSC Young Boys Bern
1993    Switzerland 3–2   Hong Kong League XI   Denmark U-21 2–1   Japan
1994   Denmark 2–0   Hong Kong League XI   Romania League XI 2–1   United States
1995   FR Yugoslavia 1–0   South Korea   Colombia 3–1   Hong Kong League XI
1996   Sweden 1–1
(5–4 p)
  Japan   Poland 1–0   Hong Kong League XI
1997   Russia 2–1    Switzerland   FR Yugoslavia 3–1   Hong Kong League XI
1998   Nigeria 2–0   Hong Kong League XI   Iran 1–1
(4–2 p)
  Chile
1999   Mexico 3–0   Egypt   Bulgaria 3–0   Hong Kong League XI
2000   Czech Republic 2–1   Mexico   Japan 0–0
(6–5 p)
  Hong Kong League XI
2001   Norway 2–1   Hong Kong League XI   South Korea 1–1
(6–5 p)
  Paraguay
2002   Honduras 1–0   Hong Kong League XI   Slovenia 0–0
(4–3 p)
  China
2003   Uruguay 1–1
(4–2 p)
  Iran   Denmark League XI 2–1   Hong Kong League XI
2004   Norway 3–1   Honduras   Sweden 3–0   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 Olympic Team 0–0
(5–4 p)
  China PR Olympic Team   Australia Olympic Team 2–2
(5–3 p)
  Hong Kong League XI
2008   Hong Kong League XI 2–1   HNK Hajduk Split   Peñarol 1–1
(5–4 p)
  Ulsan Hyundai
2009   South China & Pegasus United 2–1   Sparta Prague   Suwon Samsung Bluewings 0–0
(5–4 p)
  Hong Kong League XI
2010   Pohang Steelers [note 2]   Kitchee   Pegasus Invitation Team
2011   Tianjin Teda 0–0
(5–3 p)
  Guangzhou Evergrande   Ulsan Hyundai 4–2   South China
2012   Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma 5–1   Shimizu S-Pulse   Guangzhou R&F 1–1
(3–1 p)
  South China
2013   Busan IPark 1–0   Shanghai East Asia   Hong Kong League XI 1–0   Muangthong United
2014    Citizen & Cuenca United 2–0   Olhanense   Krylia Sovetov 1–0   FC Tokyo
2015   New York Cosmos 2–2
(4–2 p)
  South China
(2 teams only)
2016   Hong Kong League XI 4–0   Hong Kong
(2 teams only)
2017   Auckland City 1–0   Kitchee   Muangthong United 1–0   FC Seoul
2018   Hong Kong League XI 4–3   Hong Kong
(2 teams only)
2019   Shandong Luneng 3–1   Sagan Tosu   Hong Kong League XI 1–0   Auckland City
2020 Cancelled [note 4]
2021
2022
2023
2024 World Legends 7–3   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

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  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.
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