Ceres FC gears up for UFL Cup

By Jerome S. Galunan Jr

No time to rest.
This is how Ceres FC takes football seriously after an excellent performance in the first half of this year with the stunning Cinderella run in February to bag the 2013 PFF-Smart Club Championships in Manila.
This was followed by the back-to-back title of the Yanson-backed NOFA-Ceres La Salle in the recently-concluded 2013 PFF-Suzuki Cup U23 National Cup finals in Dumaguete City.
Now, the team has returned to the pitch to prepare for the United Football League Cup.
“After the U23 victory, the team will immediately prepare for the UFL Cup scheduled either August or September,” Ceres FC team manager Leo Rey Yanson said.
Ceres FC’s stint in the UFL Cup is a well-planned decision by the club management to take another step into competitive football.
As early as of last year, Ramon Janeo, one of the team’s assistant coaches, already divulged the club’s plan of joining the country’s premier football league.
Janeo had earlier stressed tournament details are yet to be disclosed, but he revealed that this UFL Qualifying will most likely be similar to that of the PFF-Smart Men’s Championship where they will first compete in the Visayas elimination alongside Cebu, Leyte, Negors Oriental, and Iloilo.
The top two teams in the Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao eliminations will advance to Stage 2 and mix up with the Top 6 squads of UFL Division 2 to form 12 teams. Then the Top 6 of Stage 2 will advance to Stage 3 and join the Top 10 of UFL’s Division 1 to form the 16 teams to compete in the UFL’s “Cup.”
Janeo added that if Ceres-La Salle FC plays good game in the tournament, the squad will earn a slot in UFL’s Division 2.
Players to compose the Ceres FC for the UFL Cup will most likely come from the defending PFF-Smart Club champions while the team is managed by the Yanson siblings, Ricky and Leo Rey./WDJ

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