:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/54669849/174339093.0.jpg)
As has been something of a tradition in recent seasons, Tottenham Hotspur will be heading out on tour at the conclusion of the 2016-17 Premier League season. Spurs announced on the club website and on social media that they will be returning to Hong Kong for the third time in nine years to play Hong Kong Premier League side Kitchee SC at the Hong Kong Stadium on Friday, May 26.
We're heading back to Hong Kong!
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) May 8, 2017
We'll play Kitchee SC at the Hong Kong Stadium on 26 May.
Tickets / info - https://t.co/cryhZgA38Q pic.twitter.com/fRVQJ7j4IW
Tours to the far East are not new to Tottenham. Spurs have visited Hong Kong twice before: in the 2013-14 Barclay’s Asia Trophy, and again in a 2009 Asia Trophy friendly against South China. Spurs visited Malaysia to play a Malaysian XI (the one Tom Carroll destroyed) in a post-season tour after the 2014-15 season.
Hong Kong isn’t exactly known for its quality football, but Kitchee SC is the best of the long, having won the 2016-17 Hong Kong Premier League with 51 points, two points above Eastern Sports Club. English football is huge in Asia and is still growing, so periodic tours to the region make a lot of sense for top Premier League clubs (just as visits to America also make sense). We don’t yet know if this match is part of a broader post-season tour of Asia, or if it’s just a one-off friendly match.
The match begins at 8:00 p.m. local time (1 pm England, 8 am USA). Tickets go on sale May 10 at stubhub.hk.