Hong Kong Sapling Cup

Hong Kong Sapling Cup
Founded	2015
Region	Hong Kong
Number of teams	9
Current champions	Southern (2nd title)
Most successful club(s)	Kitchee; Southern; (2 titles)

Hong Kong Sapling Cup (Chinese: 菁英盃), was a Hong Kong domestic football competition contested by the Hong Kong Premier League teams. The objective of the Cup was to provide more playing opportunities for youth players. It was discontinued after the 2024–25 season.

Quick Facts Founded, Region ...

HK$120,000 reward goes to the winners, with the runners-up getting HK$60,000. The two other losing semi-finalists receive HK$30,000. The remaining teams get HK$15,000. The best under-22 player from each team gets HK$3,000, and player of the tournament earns an additional HK$5,000.^[1] The last Sapling Cup holder is Southern.

[1]

Season	Name	Logo	Format	Rules
2015–16	Henderson Sapling Cup (Sponsorship from Henderson Land Development)		Participating teams are divided into two groups for a single round-robin tournament. Top two advance to the semi-finals.	Each team must have no fewer than two players under the age of 21 and no more than six foreign players at any time.
2016–17	R&F Properties Sapling Cup (Sponsorship from R&F Properties)		Participating teams compete in a single-elimination tournament.
2017–18	Sapling Cup (No sponsorship)		Participating teams are divided into two groups for a single round-robin tournament. Top two advance to the semi-finals.	Each team must have no fewer than two players under the age of 22 and no more than four foreign players at any time.
2018–19
2019–20			Participating teams are divided into two groups for a double round-robin tournament. Top team advances to the final.	Each team must have no fewer than three players under the age of 22 and no more than four foreign players at any time.
2020–21			Participating teams are divided into two groups for a double round-robin tournament. Top two advance to the semi-finals.
2021–22			Participating teams compete in a double round-robin tournament.
2022–23	JC Sapling Cup (Sponsorship from Hong Kong Jockey Club)		Participating teams are divided into two groups for a double round-robin tournament. Top two advance to the semi-finals.

2023–24

2024–25		Participating teams are divided into two groups for a single round-robin tournament. Top two advance to the semi-finals.

Edition	Season	Winners	Score	Runners-up	Venue	Attendance
1	2015–16	Pegasus	1–1 †	South China	Mong Kok Stadium	2,150
2	2016–17	Tai Po	2–1 *	Pegasus	Mong Kok Stadium	2,956
3	2017–18	Kitchee	2–1	Tai Po	Hong Kong Stadium	2,165
4	2018–19	Lee Man	3–2 *	Yuen Long	Mong Kok Stadium	2,685
5	2019–20	Kitchee	3–1	Southern	Tseung Kwan O Sports Ground	0^[1]
6	2020–21	Eastern	2–0	Happy Valley	Mong Kok Stadium	2,243
7	2021–22	Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong
8	2022–23	Southern	2–0	Lee Man	Mong Kok Stadium	2,519
9	2023–24	Rangers	1–0	Kitchee		3,769
10	2024–25	Southern	4–0	Lee Man		3,072

Team	Wins	Last final won	Runners-up	Last final lost
Kitchee	2	2019–20	1	2023–24
Southern	2	2024–25	1	2020–21
Lee Man	1	2018–19	2	2024–25
Pegasus	1	2015–16	1	2016–17
Tai Po	1	2016–17	1	2017–18
Eastern	1	2020–21	–	–
Rangers	1	2023–24	–	–
South China	–	–	1	2015–16
Yuen Long	–	–	1	2018–19
Happy Valley	–	–	1	2020–21

Rank	Player	Apps
1	Shu Sasaki	53
2	Leung Kwun Chung	44
2	Wong Chun Ho	44
4	Cheng Chin Lung	43
	Cheng Tsz Sum
	Stefan Pereira
	Yu Wai Lim
8	Lam Ka Wai	42
8	Wu Chun Ming	42
10	Chan Hoi Pak	41
	Kessi
	Lam Hin Ting
	Tomas Maronesi

Rank	Player	Goals	Apps	Ratio
1	Stefan Pereira	32	43	0.74
2	Mikael	19	33	0.58
2	Everton Camargo	19	38	0.5
4	Lucas Silva	17	23	0.74
4	Juninho	17	32	0.53
6	Mahama Awal	15	37	0.41
6	Shu Sasaki	15	53	0.28
8	Sandro	14	17	0.82
8	Travis Major	14	19	0.74
10	Wellingsson de Souza	13	29	0.45
10	Sun Ming Him	13	33	0.39

Hong Kong Sapling Cup

Competition name and rules

Finals

Key

Results

Notes

Performance by teams

Players record

Most appearances

Top scorers

See also

References

External links

Wikiwand - on

*	Match went to extra time
†	Match decided by a penalty shootout after extra time