On the evening of August 23, the Saudi Super Cup final was held in Hong Kong, with the Riyadh victory team playing the Jeddah Nationals. The Secretary for Culture, Sports and tourism, Luo Shupei, said that Hong Kong football had been one of the highlights of the summer, with more than 250,000 people attending the Super Bowl in Saudi Arabia.
Mainland fans head to Hong Kong in rain
According to a report by Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) on the 24th, the national team of Jeddah drew 2-2 with the victory team of Riyadh, led by Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo, in the Saudi Super Cup held at the Hong Kong Stadium on the evening of the 23rd, and won the penalty shootout 5-3. In the first half, Cristiano Ronaldo had a brilliant display, with a superb barbed strike. In the 41st minute, the winning Riyadh team was given a penalty kick by the opposing player’s handball. Ronaldo made the penalty to give the team the lead. Hong Kong media said Ronaldo’s visit to Hong Kong did not disappoint, in the game to 40-year-old played 90 minutes, the performance of hard, “Fans clap broken palm.”. Some of Ronaldo’s fans said the result was a bit of a pity, but it was wonderful and the atmosphere was good.
Before the game on the 23rd, the evening has begun to drizzle, but still can not hide the enthusiasm of the fans. Due to the semi-final on the 19th is a working day, leading to many fans missed, more people decided to rain on the day of the final to support. Many mainland fans rushed to Hong Kong on the weekend. Some fans from Beijing told the global times that they took the high-speed rail after work last Thursday, arrived in Hong Kong early on Friday morning, and flew back to Beijing on Sunday, “It’s convenient to go to Hong Kong to watch the game now. It Won’t delay our work and we can play for another day.”.
Hong Kong, China, became the first East Asian region to host the Saudi Super Bowl 2025, which was held at the Hong Kong Stadium from August 19 to 23. Tickets priced from HK $499 to HK $2,990 were announced by Fonnson on 12 July. It is worth noting that posters from the organizers can be seen playing for the Riyadh Victory Team of the Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo and the Jeddah National Team of France Star Benzema Shadow. Indeed, on August 14, Cristiano Ronaldo arrived in Hong Kong with the Victory Team of Riyadh. According to Hong Kong media reports, a total of four teams will take part in the Saudi Super Cup, with two semi-finals and one final. On the 19th, the semi-finals will be between the Riyadh victory team and the Jeddah United team, on the 20th, the Jeddah national team played against the Hubayr Kurdistya team. The winners of the two matches played the final match on the 23rd.
“Will choose Hong Kong again.”
Paul Chan, the Financial Secretary who presided over the award presentation ceremony, published an article on the 24th. He quoted the Saudi organizers as saying that there were two main reasons for choosing Hong Kong as the venue for this year’s competition. First, the international status of Hong Kong, second, the role of Hong Kong in the guangdong-hong Kong-macao Bay Area and in China and Asia as a whole.
The Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Luo Shupei, revealed that she had met with the chairman of the Saudi Arabian Football Association, who said that he was very satisfied with the results of the Super Cup held in Hong Kong, i was pleasantly surprised by the strong football atmosphere in Hong Kong. The fans were both polite and enthusiastic. “It shows the charm of football in Hong Kong. He was very impressed with our ability to organise matches and revealed that Hong Kong might be chosen as a venue again in the future.”
Luo Shupei further said that Hong Kong has world-class competition facilities. This summer, the Hong Kong Stadium has hosted a series of major matches. From the end of May, the Premier League Manchester United team visited Hong Kong, by the end of June, Hong Kong’s exhibition game with India, and by the end of July, European giants such as Liverpool, Arsenal, AC Milan and Tottenham had arrived in Hong Kong. The Saudi Super Cup has attracted more than 250,000 fans to attend the match, “Visiting teams can feel the enthusiasm and support of Hong Kong fans, they will have a very good experience.”.
Watching the games promotes the“Grand event economy”
Despite the unstable weather in August, the tourists’ enthusiasm was unhindered. According to statistics, more than 200,000 mainland visitors came to Hong Kong on August 9 and 210,000 on August 16 respectively, the highest number of mainland visitors coming to Hong Kong on a single day except May 1 since the 2023 of February. In the past 19 days, although it was a weekday, there were exciting concerts and football matches held at various venues of different scales, including the Kai Tak Arena, the Hong Kong Stadium, the Hong Kong Coliseum and the West Kowloon Cultural District, they include the Saudi Super Bowl, the G.E.M. and Lam concerts, and the third public performance of the musical “The lawyer King”. These programmes alone have attracted nearly 100,000 viewers, nearly half of whom are foreign visitors. MS Law said that 60 per cent of the 40,000 people attending the G.E.M. concert at the Kai Tak Arena would be mainland visitors, who would probably choose to stay for a few more days and participate in other major events.
According to the Oriental daily, UCI has announced the schedule for next year’s 2028 World Cup track cycling race, the Hong Kong 2027 will run from April 17-19 and the 2027 from April 23-25, and will be part of the qualifying 2028 for the Los Angeles games. The chairman of the China Hong Kong Cycling Federation, Mr Leung Hung Tak, said that hosting world-class events would help enhance Hong Kong’s international image and attract overseas spectators, which in turn would boost the hotel, catering, retail and tourism business, promoting the“Event economy”.
Luo Shupei said that cultural and sports events will boost tourism-related industries, such as catering and retail. For example, before the G.E.M. concert, there were quite a lot of people in the Kai Tak retail centre and many restaurants had to queue up. The Kai Tak Sports Park Operation Company said that nearly 30% of the restaurants had extended their business hours to midnight due to concerts, and the retail sales in July increased by more than 20% compared with the opening of the sports park in March, “Ding money began to flourish”. In addition, various Asian and local bands and singers have also announced concerts at the Kai Tak Sports Park.
Luo Shupei said that exciting events would be coming, including the national games at the end of the year. Organised by the Youth Walk, under the guidance of the Leisure and sports tourism board and co-organised by the Yau Tsim Mong District Office, the event was held at the Free Space Box of the West Kowloon Cultural District on the 23rd. Speaking at the event, the Deputy Secretary for administration, Zhuo Yongxing, said that he would seize the opportunity to demonstrate to the whole country and the World Hong Kong’s capability in organising major sports events, to deepen sports cooperation and exchanges in various aspects in the guangdong-hong Kong-macao Bay Area and jointly build a first-class Bay Area. Zhuo Yongxing said he would make full use of the existing venues, including the Kai Tak Sports Park, the Central Harbourfront and Victoria Park, to showcase the charm and vitality of Hong Kong as the events capital.