Hong Kong Football Festival: record crowd brings Kai Tak Stadium to life amid tourism boom

Nearly 50,000 fans packed into Kai Tak Stadium on Saturday for the first game of the inaugural Hong Kong Football Festival, providing a raucous atmosphere and highlighting what the city’s leader had earlier called an energised tourism industry.

And after days of community events, fan visits and anticipation, the real business got under way, with Liverpool and AC Milan serving up the sort of pre-season clash Hong Kong has been starved of in recent years.

A Noah Okafor double, plus goals from Rafael Leao and Ruben Loftus-Cheek earned Milan a 4-2 win in the Standard Chartered Trophy in front of a record 49,704 crowd. For Liverpool, Dominik Szoboszlai and Cody Gakpo briefly gave their supporters something to cheer about.

Either side of 90 minutes of action on the pitch, there was the traditional dragon dance before kick-off and fireworks after to celebrate the Italian side’s triumph.

For Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu, the atmosphere would have further cemented his belief in the city’s “growing attractiveness in the international tourism market”, even as he vowed to further innovate and make Hong Kong a “preferred travel destination”.

AC Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan could do nothing about Dominik Szoboszlai’s equaliser. Photo: Elson Li
AC Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan could do nothing about Dominik Szoboszlai’s equaliser. Photo: Elson Li

Official figures on Saturday outlined just how much of an economic boon Kai Tak Sports Park has been, with the number of visitors to the city up 12 per cent year on year for the first six months of 2025.

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