City To Defend Hong Kong Title

The Foxes won the prestigious tournament in impressive style last summer, beating 2012 champions Newcastle United in the final, and with the likes of Manchester City, Chelsea and Rangers looking to take their crown, it is set to be another exciting tournament. 

This year’s event will be the 15th edition of the tournament, which will be held from 23-25 May at Hong Kong Football Club – the host venue since the inaugural tournament back in 1999. 

Newcastle United, Sunderland and five-time winners Aston Villa will also be competing against City in Hong Kong this year and Academy Director Jon Rudkin was looking forward to the challenge. 

He said: “It’s a terrific tournament to be involved in and we’re delighted to be coming back to defend the title in 2014. Winning the Cup last year was a fantastic achievement for the players involved. 

“Having won the Shield the previous year, to go on and win the Main tournament in only our second appearance was a feat everyone at the Club was extremely proud of. The players involved in both visits learned a great deal about the format from the first time and used that experience with real intelligence when we came back last year. 

“It will be a very good test for our young players in a very intense environment and I’m sure it will be another valuable learning experience for them. 

“We have a lot of faith in our young players, who have shown in the last two years that we’re very capable of competing while playing some exciting football.” 

The remaining sides in the 16-team Main competition and the line-up of the 12-team Masters competition will be announced soon, while ticket details will be announced in April. 

All the Main group matches and the remaining Masters pool games are held on the Saturday before the knockout stages for both competitions take place on Sunday. 

Future stars who have competed in the Main competition include Gabriel Agbonlahor, Glen Johnson, Marc Albrighton, David Bentley, Anton Ferdinand, Sammy Ameobi and Shaun Maloney. 

The Masters tournament has featured former England internationals Peter Beardsley, John Barnes, Chris Waddle, Teddy Sheringham, Des Walker, Andy Cole and Matt Le Tissier, German legends Jurgen Klinsmann and Pierre Littbarski, former France winger Didier Six and Finnish icon Jari Litmanen.