SOCCER SEVENS LAUNCH PAD TO BIG TIME
Aston Villa’s Omari Kellyman has described last year’s HKFC Soccer Sevens in Hong Kong as an important step towards his recent English Premier League debut as his clubmates prepare to defend their title in the city next week. Kellyman, who won the player-of-thetournament award when Villa won the Soccer Sevens last May, became the latest of the event’s alumni to hit the big time when he featured against Manchester City on April 3, a game his side lost 4-1.
The attacking midfielder, 18, was following in the footsteps of previous Soccer Sevens players who went on to establish themselves in the Premier League. Jack Grealish, now a treble winner with City, and Gabriel Agbonlahor are among those who played for Villa in Hong Kong on their way to the club’s first team.
“I loved the experience last year at the HKFC Soccer Sevens and was grateful to be named player of the tournament,” Kellyman said. “It was another important stepping stone in my personal development and has helped towards making my debut in the Premier League this season.”
This year’s HKFC Standard Chartered Soccer Sevens will take place at Sports Road, beginning next Friday evening with games in the Masters Cup and the newly launched women’s tournament. The main men’s tournament, which besides Villa includes Newcastle United, Fulham, Brighton & Hove Albion, West Ham United, Leicester City, Rangers and Japan’s Yokohama F. Marinos, begins next Saturday, with matches in all three competitions continuing on the Sunday.
In previous years, the city’s own Premier League followed a schedule that allowed local clubs to send strong teams to the seven-a-side event. However, this year the Soccer Sevens will clash with the final round of league fixtures. Hong Kong Football Association chief executive Joaquin Tam blamed the scheduling on the Asian Cup finals in Qatar in January and subsequent fixture congestion. “This year, we have a very tight schedule,” Tam said. “We had the Asian Cup and a long training camp ... there’s not much we can do. This is the only available time.”