This year's Guangdong-Hong Kong Cup football competition will highlight a roster of young players from the SAR, as Hong Kong, China aim to nurture a new generation of talent for international play.

The first leg of the tournament will take place at Yuexiushan Stadium in Guangdong on January 15, while the SAR will host the return leg at Hong Kong Stadium on January 22.

Darren Arnott, head coach of the youth divisions, will be leading the Hong Kong, China team of 37 players, with 29 of them under the age of 23.

Eric Fok, chairman of the Football Association of Hong Kong, China (HKFA), said on Tuesday that the experience will be crucial in encouraging young players to take on a key role in football development in the city.

"One of the main initiatives of the HKFA is to develop more young players and give them more opportunities to play and train. So under this strategy, we have a number of initiatives," he said.

"We saw that at the last Asian Games at Hangzhou, it was mainly comprised of the youth team U-23. We had a historic result in the Asian Games, which showed that Hong Kong has a bright future and we have many good quality youth players."

Fok also said the association has established a league for younger players and set up a training base in Guangxi to provide players with better facilities.

He said Hong Kong Stadium will host the second leg of the Guangdong-Hong Kong Cup to accommodate a larger crowd.

RTHK will broadcast both matches live.

Fok added that the HKFA is in discussions with Kai Tak Sports Park about the possibility of hosting the home games for the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers, starting with the match against India in June.