The Hong Kong Soccer Sevens 2012
In Hong Kong we have just been spoilt with what I would describe as one of the most exciting weekend football tournaments events in the world.
The Hong Kong Soccer Sevens is an annual event that invites some of the best young talent from around the world, to play against each other and along side some of the greatest stars of days gone by.
In the main tournament this year we saw, Aston Villa, Celtic, Rangers, Leicester, Newcastle, Sunderland and West Ham amongst other teams competing.
In the masters tournament we had teams that consisted of such names as Andy Goram, Ally McCoist, Jason Lee, David Howells, Teddy Sherringham and the eventual winners, an incredible Ajax All stars who’s team were : 1-Rudi Hollaender, 2-Ferdi Vierklau, 3-Olaf Lindenbergh, 4-Niels Wijne, 6-Martijn Reuser, 8-Gery Vink, 9-Yannis Anastasiou, 10-Kenneth Perez, 11-Bryan Roy, 12-Jon Bosman.
On a reduced size football pitch, two teams play seven v seven for 7 minutes a half. It doesn’t sound like long, but when you’re usually playing full pace in 34 degree heat, it’s very hard work.
All the games throughout the tournament are “back to back” kick off’s, starting at 8 in the morning and finishing around 8 at night. The tournament starts on Friday afternoon and finishes Sunday night. It really is a full weekend of some of the most entertaining football you can could possibly get.
On top of this, if you are a big football fan, you have the chance to see some of the stars of the future of the big clubs. These usually bring their U20 or U19 teams to compete.
When you get to the knock out stages of the tournament, the games are extended to 10 minutes a half and if the game is deadlocked at full time, we are entertained to a 4v4 game with a golden goal.
This usually has the goalkeeper playing out in the field of play and is an incredibly exciting way to finish off a game (and is a great advert for something better than penalties).
Have a look at these 4v4’s from this years tournament :
