The president of the local football association said the SAR pulled out of the e-Asian Cup in Qatar to avoid "unnecessary controversy".

The association made the announcement on Thursday after the tournament's gaming application failed to correctly display "Hong Kong, China" as the team's name.

Pui Kwan-kay, president of the Football Association of Hong Kong, China, said on Friday it's not appropriate to just show the name "Hong Kong" at official international competitions.

He also told a Commercial Radio programme that he sees no problem a local side taking on Inter Miami in a friendly match on Sunday is being referred to as the "Hong Kong Team" by the organisers in some promotional materials.

"The nature of the two is different. [For the video game], it displays only 'Hong Kong' on the screen for a long period. That's not appropriate. You have to understand, the [e-Asian Cup] is an official event and the other is an exhibition match," Pui said.

"The promotional leaflets for the Inter Miami game are made by the organisers... It's like when fans chant 'Add oil, Hong Kong', they do it spontaneously. They wouldn't go, 'Add oil Hong Kong, China'."