Queens Park Rangers will be making their debut appearance at the HKFC Citi Soccer Sevens this year. ‘QPR’ had an impressive start to the 2022-23 campaign, competing at the top end of the second tier but struggled to maintain form to regain their Premier League status. February 2023 marked the start of a new era at the Club, with newly appointed Manager Gareth Ainsworth taking the reins, and with the support of Technical Director Chris Ramsey (ex. Tottenham Hotspur and the Football Association) and Director of Football Les Ferdinand (ex. QPR, Newcastle, Tottenham and England international), there is optimism for the 2023-24 campaign. The wealth of experience amongst the staff is contrast to its newly emerging talent within its B-Team cohort, who are travelling to represent West London on the international stage. The youngsters are hoping to emulate their recent graduates, such as Eberechi Eze, to go on to achieve their own success in the game, having mirrored a similar campaign to their senior, where they exited the Premier League Cup Round of 16 to neighbours Fulham.

Hong Kong, China U22 Representative Team is made up with promising young talent in Hong Kong football. Talented, motivated and hungry to showcase their skills in front of local and overseas football fans, Hong Kong, China U22 Representative Team is ready to go all out in this year’s HKFC Citibank Soccer 7s tournament, hoping to test themselves against the world’s finest emerging football talents, as well as to delight the crowd on hand.

One of the powerhouses of French football, Marseille are the first side from France to compete at the HKFC Citi Soccer Sevens.

The club from the Cote d’Azur boast a proud history, having won the first ever UEFA Champions League in 1993 when they beat AC Milan 1-0 in the final with a line-up that included the likes of World Cup winners Didier Deschamps, Marcel Desailly and Rudi Voller and they remain the only French side to have been crowned European champions.

Domestically, the late 80s and early 90s marked Marseille’s most successful period when the team claimed four straight league championships between 1989 and 1992, while they also have won a record 10 French Cups.

More recently, the club last won the French league in 2010, when they also picked up the first of three successive League Cups.

With both Paris St. Germain and Monaco having enjoyed huge cash injections in recent years in buyouts that have elevated the status of France’s domestic league, the southern France side have found competition tougher of late.

But with an experienced squad that includes former Manchester United full-back Patrice Evra, ex-Arsenal midfielder Abou Diaby and one of the stars of Euro 2016, recent acquisition Dimitri Payet, Marseille could be ready to challenge for major honours once again.

Rangers are Scotland’s most successful football club with the origins dating back to 1872 when the club was formed on the banks of the River Clyde at Glasgow Green. Being the most successful club in Scotland, the team is under pressure to win every game, whether that be home or away, to ensure the club remains the dominant force in Scottish Football. 

Rangers have won more league titles and trebles than any other club in the world, winning the league title 55 times, the Scottish Cup 34 times and the Scottish League Cup 27 times. In European football, Rangers were the first British Club to reach a UEFA tournament final in the inaugural European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1961. Rangers were runners-up again in the same competition in 1967 before going on to win the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1972 defeating Dynamo Moscow. More recently, Rangers have been runners-up in the UEFA Cup in 2008, and last season witnessed an incredible cup run in the UEFA Europa League where Rangers were runners-up in the final to Eintracht Frankfurt. 

 Based at the Rangers Training Centre in Milngavie, Glasgow, the club prides itself on consistently producing players that have gone on to represent the Men’s 1st Team. Recent examples of this have been Nathan Patterson, Danny Wilson and Alan Hutton, to name a few. Whereas this season has seen 1st Team debuts for Adam Devine, Alex Lowry, Bailey Rice and Zak Lovelace.

Hong Kong Football Club are delighted to welcome everyone back to the World’s Number 1 Seven’s competition.The hosts have just completed an astonishing season in the top flight where they defeated every single professional side bar the top 2.

They hope to continue thriving in that underdog role given the draw has presented both Newcastle Utd and Leicester City in the group of Death.The squad is the strongest the HKFC have ever had and the home fans will hopefully generate the kind of atmosphere required to see some big names fall.

It has been a long wait for this fantastic tournament to return and everyone at Sports Road would like to thank all the competing teams for accepting the invitation to return. It’s a certainty that the tournament will produce a few superstars for the future to stand alongside the legends already created. Names such as Freddie Toomer, Nathan Paterson, Antoine Sahaghian, Ally McCoist, Marcus McMillan, Jorg Albertz, Robert Scott and Calvin Bassey.

Group: D

Seeded: 9-12

Founded: 1909 (HKFA)

Home: HKFA, 55 Fat Kwong Street, Homantin, Kowloon, Hong Kong

This year’s HKFA U-20 side succeed the HKFA U-21 side that competed from 2011 to 2014 (playing as Hong Kong Dragons in 2012 and 2013) and peaked last year by reaching the Cup quarter-finals.

The purpose of inviting HKFA age-group sides to the Soccer Sevens was to give the city’s top youngsters exposure to tournament-intensity competition against similarly aged players from top European clubs. This year, HKFA U-20 will get exactly that as they face strong sides from Atletico Madrid and Stoke City, as well as some of Hong Kong’s top amateurs from Yau Yee League Select.

From the provisional 14-man squad as of early May, defender Lau Hok-ming and goalkeeper Yuen Ho-chun both played for HKFA U-21 in last year’s Soccer Sevens as well as in this year’s AFC U-23 Championship qualifiers.

Forward Chung Wai-keung, midfielder Wong Chun-hin and defenders Lai Hau-hei and Yu Pui-hong also played for Hong Kong in their AFC U-23 Championship qualifying group in Taipei.

Last year, HKFA U-21 drew 1-1 with Yau Yee League Select to confirm second place in Group D behind Aston Villa, having earlier shocked then-defending champions Leicester City 1-0. They then suffered an agonising 2-1 defeat in extra-time to eventual finalists Kitchee in an entertaining Cup quarter-final before losing 2-0 to Rangers in the Shield semis.

Two years ago, HKFA Dragons edged Yau Yee League Select on penalties in the Plate quarter-finals before losing on spot-kicks to eventual champions BC Rangers in the semis.