Hong Kong Premier League leaders R&F have called on their fellow sides to void the current season in a letter sent to clubs over the weekend.
Local media site Sportsroad reported that the Guangzhou-based club’s general manager Tyler Kwok Nengpei wrote to the HKPL sides asking them to cancel the season, which has been postponed since April, and crown no champion.
In addition, last season’s runners-up asked that the only game to be played this season would be the FA Cup final, where R&F face Eastern, with this game to decide who would play in the AFC Cup.
Kwok also called on the teams to set up their own company to run the competition, modelled on the English Premier League.
The HKFA has long stated the long-term goal is for the league to be run along those lines, but the city’s football governing body has administered the HKPL since it was formed in 2014.
The big-spending Guangzhou side have made a lot of noise since joining the HKPL in 2016, including a vision of a Greater Bay Area competition.
Last September the clubs rejected them in a vote to join the HKFA board.
R&F also expressed concern that teams might pull out of the season before it restarts, which is set to be in late August.
This season has been disrupted by the anti-government protests and coronavirus pandemic, with games played behind closed doors at the Jockey Club HKFA Training Centre in Tseung Kwan O.
Kwok’s request comes after dissent among the clubs last week, including R&F, over Fifa’s ruling on the transfer window that prevents HKPL sides from registering new players during the ongoing season.
The HKFA had allowed transfers but that was before Fifa’s ruling and then there were complaints by some clubs that those rules were mistranslated into Chinese. Kwok called for whoever was responsible to be held to account.
HKFA chairman Pui Kwan-kay has asked Fifa for dispensation to allow transfers.
This all comes after four teams, including champions Tai Po, pulled out of the season, reducing the league to six teams. These clubs will not face punishment for withdrawing.
Tai Po and Yuen Long have also told the HKFA they will not play in the 2020-21 HKPL season, citing financial concerns.
The HKFA has its own financial concerns as it awaits the government to approve the next five-year funding cycle.
