By Cedelf P. Tupas
Philippine Daily Inquirer
MANILA, Philippines -- The International Football Federation (Fifa) has approved a $500,000 (P21.72 million) grant for the construction of an artificial football pitch in Parañaque City.
Philippine Football Federation president Mariano “Nonong” Araneta told the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Tuesday that the Fifa gave the green light to the plan, which the international federation called Goal Project 2, in a meeting last Monday.
Domeka Garamendi, the former PFF secretary general who is now development officer at Fifa, informed Araneta about the grant.
The 1.5-hectare lot for the proposed pitch was donated by charismatic religious leader Bro. Mike Velarde.
It will take six months to finish the project, according to Araneta, and the Fifa grant will only cover the construction of the pitch.
Dan Palami, the manager of the national football team who was also instrumental in securing the help of Velarde, said they have been eyeing a joint venture with a private firm to fund the construction of a grandstand.
Palami acknowledged that the lack of a training pitch has been one of the problems the Azkals have faced over the years.
“At least, we will have a home within the year,” said Palami, who also thanked sponsors of the Azkals’ recent training camp in Baguio City, including the Baguio Country Club.
The Azkals are preparing for the second leg of the AFC Challenge Cup qualifying series against Mongolia in Ulan Bator on March 15. The Azkals won the first leg, 2-nil.
“It’s definitely a boost for Philippine football,” Araneta said of the project. “Having our own pitch will go a long way in our effort to develop the sport.”
Inquirer.net
KOREA DPR ARE #U17WWC CHAMPIONS! 🇰🇵🏆
1 day ago
I don't understand. Are they proposing this lot in Paranaque to be an actual stadium or just as a training facility?
ReplyDeleteThey talk about the national team not having a centralized training facility but they also say that they are planning on building a grandstand which suggests it will be an actual stadium to host matches.
I think that their short-term goal is only for a permanent training facility. Because if they're only going to construct "a grandstand", it surely won't accommodate the minimum required seating capacity.
ReplyDeleteTheir long-term goal is probably to have a permanent home stadium.
That's kind of stupid still. It will serve as a training facility for a while and then be transformed to a proper stadium? Then what happens to their training facility?
ReplyDeleteIf they're going to build a training facility then leave it as a training facility and not bother with any grandstands to accommodate spectators.
If they're going to build a stadium, then they better build it as a proper stadium and not some halfhearted attempt to build a stadium that will also serve as their training facility.
bobo ng nagcocoment!
ReplyDelete^^Buti alam mo na bobo ka!
ReplyDeleteSorry to say 21 million pesos wont build a stadium. It is a training facility. A home for the Azkals in Manila. To build any stadium that can seat more than 10,000 people will run into at least 100 million pesos. There was a study done before in England circa 2004(this had average features for spectator comfort but with a multi tier system which is very expensive) and it cost over 4 million pounds for a 25,000 seat stadium. I dont think that amount FIFA will donate will buy us a decent set of floodlights (not that I am complaining). But it is a massive development and can give the players a great training facility not only a pitch but additional infrastructure to give them access to a truly modern system using the latest sport science applications. We should be counting our lucky stars for this. With the offer to host the 2014 Suzuki Cup, things are truly looking up for football.
ReplyDeleteOkey na rin yan...
ReplyDeleteFrom what I can tell from pictures, wala rin namang stadium ang J-Village. Training facility lang talaga.
Ang nakikita ko lang na "problema" ay kailangan nilang lumipat sa kung saan-saan kapag kailangan nilang mag high-altitude training o ano.
Will that include the sleeping facilities where our teams including the youth teams can stay while preparing for a tournament? That is usually part of national team training facility.
ReplyDeleteThey can also add a gym at the site where the various national teams can workout. These plus the dorms should be prioritized before even thinking about any grandstands.
ReplyDeleteyo cjeagle, I'm with you re gym n dorm. work out, rest and diet program, are weapons. If they arre "isolated" like this, there is much focus on the training/coaching staff. I mean, seriously, between a grandstand and a training facility? The grandstand can wait a while. We get our results, things will fall into place.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I hope people appreciate the impact of such a training facility will have. Something solely dedicated to the advancement of the national football team. Everything is about sports science these days and they should think of preparing this with the proper equipment and facilities. I would start researching on what the professional teams in Europe are doing although of course we can start at a much smaller scale, much much smaller. Iam not hoping for something like Manchester's Carrington Complex but we are progressing in sports science locally and should take advantage of the knowledge base in the Philippines as well as what we can learn from these more established facilities.
ReplyDeleteYes, the plan is to build just a training facility complete with a dorm for the various members of the national team who will not be from Metro Manila or nearby provinces. The plan to build a stadium will take a while as we will have to raise the funding from sponsors although these have already been identified. In the meantime, Rizal Memorial will be given a mini-facelift and serve as our home field.
ReplyDelete