Lunar New Year Cup

The Lunar New Year Cup (aka Carlsberg Challenge, Carlsberg Cup (1983-2006)) is an annual friendly football tournament organized in Hong Kong by the Hong Kong FA. It is usually held on the 1st and the 4th day of the Chinese New Year as a part of celebration. The period before and around WWII, Lunar New Year Cup was played by Hong Kong teams and teams from mainland China. Since 1950, HKFA invited at least 1 overseas team to enter the competition. Before 1982, there were 3 exhibition matches in the tournament, but 1983 was the 1st time that the competition had a big sponsor and the number of invited teams increased to 3. From 1993 onwards, national teams rather than club teams were invited to participate.