The competition begins with a league structure – four groups of four teams – before moving into the knockout stages.
A squad from West Ham’s Premier League 2 (U23) will represent the Hammers in Hong Kong.
Aston Villa have won a record six times (2002, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2016), while Blackburn Rovers (1999), Arsenal (2001), Newcastle (2012), Leicester (2013) and Manchester City (2014) are the other English clubs to have lifted the Cup.
Hong Kong clubs Kitchee (2011) and Instant Dict (2000), Japan’s Urawa Reds (2005, 2006), Scotland’s Celtic (2009) and Spain’s Atletico Madrid (2015) are the tournament’s only non-English champions.