Hong Kong seizes haul of World Cup fakes worth $20 million

Authorities in Hong Kong have seized suspected counterfeit World Cup items including soccer jerseys and balls with an estimated value of HK$156 million ($19.91 million), officials said.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup is running from June 11 to July 19, and is being hosted jointly by the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Wayne Chung, senior investigator at the city's Intellectual Property Investigation Bureau, told reporters on Thursday that 230,000 items had been seized.

Chung said the jerseys seized had a close resemblance to genuine soccer shirts. "Many of the jerseys are uniforms of the participating countries. We noticed all of these clothes are set to be exported to other countries, not for local market. At least 80% of them head to America," he said.

He said that this was due to high demand for jerseys during the World Cup, which got underway on Thursday.

-Reporting by Nicoco Chan and Farah Master; Editing by Helen Popper/Reuters