By NICK GIONGCO
MANILA, Philippines — Three Arab nations – Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait – have agreed to provide a combined $100,000 annual assistance for the Philippine football team, Philippine Football Federation (PFF) president Mariano Araneta announced on Tuesday.
The aid, Araneta said, is a big boost to the country’s quest to improve and popularize the sport further following the success of the Azkals in the recent AFF Cup where they advanced to the semis for the first time.
Apart from the money, these countries also assured the PFF that they will be willing to play host to the training camps of the Azkals, in their respective countries. The airfare and board and lodging of the Azkals will be shouldered by the host country, according to the PFF.
In a press conference on Tuesday at the Manila Yacht Club, Araneta disclosed that the $100,000 (about P4.3 million) initial funding has been sent to the PFF.
He also announced that the PFF also got a financial bonanza amounting to $150,000 as its share of gate receipts in the two semifinal games against Indonesia during the AFF Suzuki Cup last month. This amount is also now in the possession of the PFF.
As if this was not a boost enough, Araneta added that Japan is also throwing its support to the resurgent PFF with a pledge of $20,000 for grassroots development.
As to the Azkals' much-awaited AFC Challenge Cup showdown with Mongolia on February 9 at the Panaad in Bacolod, Araneta said it is green and go and that the general admission section of the 10,000-seat venue will be free to the public.
Team manager Dan Palami said the sudden influx of financial assistance should only make football grow even bigger in the coming years.
Source : Manila Bulletin
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9 hours ago
That is FANTASTIC news. They ought to have an independent accounting firm keep track of the "score" per se (the money coming in to support the PFF), just so that there's less of a chance that it will be pilfered as it was in the past.
ReplyDeleteI love their transparency with the money, however. I'm growing cautiously optimistic with each passing day.
I don't mean to slander anyone, but I think this has something to do with our voting for the Jordanian candidate for FIFA Vice President who Kuwait supported, at the AFC meeting in Qatar.
ReplyDeleteThis is normal operating procedure at FIFA and happens all the time so it is all to the good. Same thing happened during World Cup bidding which Qatar won. We may as well benefit from all this backroom dealing.
As for the Japanese offer, I think they can do better than that but thanks is in order nevertheless.
In regards to the Suzuki Cup, the PFF should have stood firm with the $200,000 which the AFF said was due to us. We got outbluffed.
Although the AFF informed initially Mr. Araneta that we would get at least $200k as PFF share of the gate receipts the Indonesian Federation insisted only half was to be given and after negotiations with Araneta they met half way and agreed to give 150K. AFF did not initiate steps to insist on the 200K so Araneta didn't have any choice.
ReplyDeleteThere is no written rule on the matter so i guess even AFF can't do much. What is written is that the host country will get all the gate receipts.
Besides not only did PFF get 150K the expenses of the national team including airfare was on the account of the Indonesian.
So full credit goes to Araneta!
We should have had more than 200K . Who initiated it, was it Araneta ??? or the EX...
ReplyDeleteGive credit where the credit is due , even if he is the Worst PFF had ever had.
I am the first poster.
ReplyDeleteI don't really care how much we received from the Indonesians. The impt. thing is that the money should go to help promote football in the country and not for personal gain. Should we start assigning credits to those as well?
I like the fact the new administration has shown willingness to be as transparent as possible and for that they should be fully credited.
Correction on previous post. I am the 2nd poster. chino is the first.
ReplyDelete