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NDERSCORING the desire to have the country’s own version of the English Premier League, the Spanish La Liga, or Bundesliga of Germany, the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) has officially formed the task force that will handle the creation of a National League.
With the help of world and continental governing bodies Fifa (International Football Federation) and Asian Football Confederation (AFC), the committee is expected to launch the historic project in three years.
“This has been a dream for all of us who are passionate about football, to create a national professional league,” PFF president Nonong Araneta said during the launch Monday. “With their (Fifa, AFC) support, nothing can hinder us from making this dream a reality.”
“We have seen the renaissance of football in the last three years. And I hope it will continue in the years to come with the establishment of the national league,” added Araneta, a former national booter.
Dr. Bernardo Villegas is the chairman of the Task Force, with Bonnie Ladrido (Finance), Dino Laurena (Marketing), Atty. Roland Tulay (Legal/Governance), Cyril Dofitas (Competitions), Randy Roxas (Clubs), Angelico Mercader (Communications), Flaviano Fucoy III (Other Concerns) as members and resource persons.
The vision of the league is to have at least 10 teams (four from Luzon, four from Visayas, and two from Mindanao) in compliance with AFC Cup standards, battling in a home-and-away, point-system format.
The country has actually seen a similar competition in the early 1990s with the P-League, which unfortunately folded after only a few years due to a number of reasons, foremost of which was logistics.
But Villegas noted not only the budget fares of various airlines, but the Philippine nautical highway, where one can have players from the province travel by land and drive all the way to Manila using the roll-on-roll-off transport system in less than a day.
“The transport costs are going to be very minimal. That will make the league more economically feasible,” said Villegas, an economist who is adept at logistics and supply chain.
To ensure the league will thrive, the committee is set to have a marketing research study, then discuss the structure and governance, among other main points, in future meetings.
spin
Which clubs are they expecting to get from the Visayas and Mindanao regions and, most of all, with which stadiums? The clubs need to comply with AFC standards, which means that they need a functioning youth system, A-license coaches and a stadium with atleast 5000 seats! So far, the only teams that can fulfill these requirements are the top five teams of the UFL: Kaya, Global, Pachanga, GAU and Loyola. All of them can rent the Empy (which can expand its seats by then), Rizal Memorial Stadium or UMAK and all of them have functioning youth teams and a stable financial basis (something Nomads, for example does not have although it has the rest), but it will still be a tussle which one of those clubs gets left out since only four teams from Luzon are allowed in the league. All the other teams outside the NCR do not have the same capabilities as these teams do. Concerning the Visayas Region, I can see Stallions getting the license for the Iloilo Sports Complex, CQCU getting the Cebu Sports Complex and Ceres getting Panaad - but who is this fourth Visayan team going to be? Will Global pull through with their joke of being part of the Leyte FA and will represent them instead? And if yes then with what stadium? Global does not have the money to build one with 5000 seats! The much bigger problem, however, is Mindanao, because there is absolutely no team there that is up to the standards of the UFL teams. Zamboanga has a big stadium and there is a new field in Valencia, Bukidnon, but then that's about it! None of the teams have a youth system, none of them have any big sponsors and none of them have A license coaches! There is absolutely nothing there and I would rather see another UFL team in this new league than two weak and quickly put together teams with no financial backing for the sake of having two teams from Mindanao.
ReplyDeleteI guess PFF sighted Cagayan de Oro City and Davao City as the two teams from MIndanao.
ReplyDeleteDo Cagayan de Oro and Davao have a stadium with at least 5,000 seats? The only clubs that I'm aware of from Davao are Columbia FC.
DeleteWhy do they require seating capacity of 5000 when attendance at UFL matches in Manila is just a few houndred ?
ReplyDeleteWhat Anonymous 15:31 said. These are the AFC club licensing regulations. And the regular attendance in the UFL shows that this League might come way too early. I can see the stadiums getting filled in Bacolod, Cebu or Iloilo, but not in the NCR, where most of the teams only have 1 supporters club or none at all.
Deletejonny, requirements yan ng AFC at FIFA dahil pag nag qualify ang isang team sa AFC Champions league dadami ang attendance from visiting fans at habol nila ang ticket sales.
ReplyDelete