The 2007 Premier League Asia Trophy (

Traditional chinese A tradition is a system of beliefs or behaviors (folk custom) passed down within a group of people or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examp ...

: 巴克萊亞洲錦標賽) was the third edition of the Premier League Asia Trophy, a four-team

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

tournament held every two years. The tournament was held in Hong Kong. The 2007 edition was competed by

South China AA South China Athletic Association (known simply as South China, SCAA, ) is a Hong Kong professional sports club with a football team competing in the Hong Kong First Division League, Hong Kong First Division, the second-tier league in Hong K ...

, the winner of Hong Kong's

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

and

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

at the 40,000-capacity Hong Kong Stadium. The semi-finals took place on 24 July and the final and third-place play-off were on 27 July 2007.

won the first semi-final 1–0 against

after a goal by Benjani in the 45th minute.

beat

South China South China ( zh, s=, p=Huá'nán, j=jyut6 naam4) is a geographical and cultural region that covers the southernmost part of China. Its precise meaning varies with context. A notable feature of South China in comparison to the rest of China is ...

in the second semi-final thanks to a John Arne Riise free-kick and a

Xabi Alonso Xabier Alonso Olano (, ; born 25 November 1981) is a Spanish professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who is the head coach of La Liga club Real Madrid CF, Real Madrid. He is regarded as o ...

penalty. South China pulled a goal back with a Li Haiqiang free-kick, but Daniel Agger scored to make it 3–1. Fulham beat South China 4–1 in the third place play-off, while Portsmouth beat Liverpool 4–2 on penalties to win the Premier League Asia Trophy after a goalless draw in normal time.

Competition format

The competition used a knock-out format. South China played Liverpool, while Fulham played Portsmouth, both matches taking place on 24 July. The winners competed in the final on 27 July, while the losers played in the third place play-off on the same day.

Prizes

Hong Kong FA Cup winner South China received HK$500,000 from the organizers as appearance fee in the tournament. The winner of the tournament received a trophy as well as £100,000 prize money.

Official match programme

An A5 sized, 60-page bilingual (English/Chinese) official match programme was published for sale during the match days within the stadium. It retailed at HK$20 (~£1.30).

Results

Semi-finals

----

Third place play-off

Final

Goalscorers

The goal scorers from the Premier League Asia Trophy 2007 are as follows:

Player of the Tournament

The Player of the Tournament award was awarded to David James of

. James kept 2 clean sheets, and saved penalties from Yossi Benayoun and Fernando Torres.

Gallery

Image:07BarclaysAsiaTrophy01.jpg Image:07BarclaysAsiaTrophy02.jpg Image:07BarclaysAsiaTrophy03.jpg Image:07BarclaysAsiaTrophy04 (large).jpg

External links

Barclays and Premier League head east

Premiership trio set for Hong Kong Trophy
{{Friendly tournaments 2007

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

Prem

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

fi:Premier League Asia Trophy