Friday, September 7, 2012
QUEEN City United made the decision to play against Visayas counterpart teams in the Regional qualifiers of the Smart Club Championships.
This was after they were informed of the change in the format of the Smart Qualifiers championships and only allowed a team to play in one qualifying tournament.
“Since we had long been playing with Manila teams, we decided to try the waters in Visayas and observe how QCU stands with other teams,” said QCU President Stanley Villacin.
QCU after winning the men’s open of the Aboitiz team will represent Cebu in the regional qualifiers against Dumaguete, Bacolod, Iloilo and Leyte.
“We already informed Ritchie Gannaban of UFL of our decision that it won’t, in any way, affect our participation in the UFL League next year,” said Villacin.
The squad reverted its first decision to play in the UFL Cup after the United Football League committee decided to abandon the qualifying stages first suggested for the Smart Club National Championships.
From the initial plan of having three group stages in the Smart Club, the committee decided to continue with the regional qualifiers where the top two teams from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao will advance to the next round.
There is still no date for the tournament, but the Visayas qualifiers are eyed to be hosted by Dumaguete.
The six teams from the regional qualifiers will join the top ten teams in the UFL Cup, which will go on as it is with 10-division one team, 12-division two teams and eight guest teams.
Smart Club National Championships is set on January next year with 16 teams playing in a single knockout stage.
The UFL committee decided to have the round of eight games played in the province, which means if QCU will qualify, it is secured of a home match.
“At least there’s a game here if we qualify in the regional qualifiers,” said Villacin.
But the quarter-finals, semis and finals will be played in Manila already.
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on September 07, 2012.
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