Manchester City striker Erling Haaland will not feature in the upcoming Hong Kong Football Festival, with sports chief Rosanna Law citing a busy fixture and mandatory rest regulations as the primary reasons.

The festival, to be held between July 31 and August 5 at Kai Tak Stadium, also features Chelsea, Inter Milan and Juventus.

While local supporters had eagerly anticipated seeing the Norwegian superstar in action, Law told a Commercial Radio programme on Wednesday that his participation was never a realistic prospect.

"Haaland played a full season for Manchester City last year, and then the World Cup ran from mid-June to mid-July. Even though Haaland didn't make it to the semi-finals, Norway still played until mid-July, and the Premier League starts again in mid-August," she said.

Under Fifa regulations, professional players are entitled to a minimum of 72 hours of rest between matches and at least 21 days of holiday at the end of each season.

"If he can't come to play according to Fifa regulations and can't take the field, shouldn't we just let him have a break, or should we, as some people tell me, 'throw money at him to come'... which doesn't seem quite right," Law said.

"It's not like he'll never have a chance to come again. But this year – I've said it many times – because with the World Cup happening this year, for these kinds of exhibition matches, we really need to bring in teams that already have their own fans, appeal and drawing power."

The secretary for culture, sports and tourism also stressed the importance of not relying too much on individual stars when it comes to inviting teams to play here.

"You can't put all your eggs in one basket. That was one of the good principles we had when we first organised this event."

She said more than 30,000 tickets have been sold for Saturday's match between Manchester City and Inter Milan, about two-thirds of total capacity.

The winners of the English FA Cup and League Cup in the past season have announced a 28-player squad for their Asian tour.

It includes stars such Gianluigi Donnarumma, Savinho and Mateo Kovačić.

In addition to Haaland, Spanish midfielder Rodri and French midfielder Rayan Cherki will not travel with the team.

After playing in Hong Kong, Manchester City will head to Seoul for two friendly matches, against the K-League All Stars team and La Liga side Atletico Madrid.


Edited by Edmond Fong