Manchester United have cancelled plans to visit Hong Kong as part of their pre-season tour this summer.
United had explored the possibility of visiting the region this summer to play a friendly match, but will be unable to make the trip because authorities are unable to relax their coronavirus rules.
Hong Kong still has some of the world’s strictest Covid-19 restrictions as the city battles a fifth wave of infections — including a two-week quarantine period for any visitors from the United Kingdom.
Hong Kong Football Association (HKFA) chairman Pui Kwan-kay has revealed United were keen on playing there this summer, but talks of a match have broken down over their current quarantine requirements.
“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.”
United last played in Hong Kong back in July 2013 as part of David Moyes' maiden pre-season tour as manager.
Danny Welbeck, Chris Smalling, Fabio da Silva, Adnan Januzaj and Jesse Lingard scored as they ran out 5-2 winners over local side Kitchee.
United are still expected to venture to Asia and/or Australia as part of their pre-season schedule this summer, with matches in Singapore, Thailand and Australia all being discussed.
The Reds also visited the area back in 2019 when they played matches in Australia, Singapore and China before heading back to Europe with matches in Norway and Cardiff.
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