Double delight! Albion win Hong Kong Soccer Sevens to cap off terrific season

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Our men's under-21s defeated Yokohama Marinos in the final to finish the campaign with two titles.

Charlie Hanson

2026-05-25T09:00+01:00

Joe Belmont was held aloft after the final win in Hong Kong. 📸 by Charlie Hanson

Our men's under-21s rounded off a terrific 2025/26 campaign by winning the Hong Kong Soccer Sevens tournament on Sunday.

Having lifted the Premier League 2 trophy last week, Shannon Ruth's team deservedly won the prestigious tournament at Hong Kong Football Club in Happy Valley.

Group stage - Albion 1-0 Hong Kong FC - Albion 5-1 Singapore FC - Albion 3-0 Leeds United

Albion weren’t at their free-flowing best in their opening game against hosts Hong Kong FC, but Shane Nti’s close range finish proved enough to secure a win and three points to get their competition off to an ideal start.

Shane Nti's close range finish was his first of four goals in the tournament. 📸 by Charlie Hanson.

Next up were Singapore FC, with Ruth’s team finding their stride. Joe Belmont grabbed a hat-trick, with Kofi Shaw and Tyler Silsby scoring one each in a comprehensive 5-1 win. The result put Albion top of the group, with Leeds United who were expected to challenge Brighton for first place, suffering a surprise defeat to Hong Kong FC.

That set up the final game nicely against Leeds where a draw or better would see Albion through as group winners.

Josh Robertson captained Albion through the tournament. 📸 by Charlie Hanson.

Albion cruised to a 3-0 win with Nti grabbing a brace and Miah Oriola scoring in a comfortable win. It rounded off a perfect group stage for Albion, with three wins from three games and setting them up for a quarter-final clash against Rangers.

Quarter-final - Albion 2-0 Rangers

Kofi Shaw teed up Shane Nti to score against Rangers. 📸 by Charlie Hanson.

Lorenz Ferdinand had enjoyed a relatively quiet tournament, but when called upon against Rangers the keeper more than proved his worth with a terrific double save to keep Albion 1-0 in front. Josh Robertson had put Albion in the lead with a thumping drive from the edge of the box in the first half, before Nti scored his fourth of the tournament when he poked in from Shaw’s inch-perfect cross.

Semi-final - Albion 2-1 AZ Alkmaar

Lorenz Ferdinand pulled off an unbelievable save in our win over Rangers to ensure we reached the semi-final, where we faced AZ Alkmaar. 📸 by Charlie Hanson.

Beaten by Alkmaar in last season’s final, this game felt like a final in itself for Albion. The Dutch side took the lead during a first half which they mostly controlled, but if the first half belonged to our opposition, then the second half was Brighton’s.

Oriola’s strike hit a defender’s hand in the box, with Albion awarded a penalty which was expertly tucked away by Robertson. Then, having scored a sensational winner in the quarter-finals of the Premier League 2 elimination play-offs against Ipswich for his first goal of the season, Sean Keogh popped up with an equally impressive drive to put Albion in front. Alkmaar struck the underside of the crossbar within seconds of the the restart, but unlike last year this would be Albion’s day.

Final - Albion 2-0 Yokohama Marinos

Carnage. 📸 by Charlie Hanson.

Such was the drive to win the semi-final, Albion were calm heading into their final against Japanese side Yokohama Marinos, who themselves had beaten Rangers and Aston Villa to be within touching distance of the trophy. Brighton dominated the encounter. Silsby opened the scoring with a near-post finish before player of the tournament Jesse Middleton’s shot from the edge of the box was palmed into the top corner by the Yokohama goalkeeper.

The celebrations were befitting of a fantastic performance over the weekend, making it two final wins out of three in as many weeks for our men’s under-21s.