By Olmin Leyba
MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Azkals have tapped their 12th man – their fans – for help in filling the war chest for their expensive bid in the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers via the “Small Change, Big Change” fundraising campaign.
Under the project, which is a partnership between the Azkals Foundation and supermarket giant Puregold, donation cans will be placed in key commercial establishments and stores where people can donate their loose change for the team after paying at the counter.
Azkals team manager Dan Palami said the campaign was inspired by comments from fans in a Facebook page who wanted to pitch in and that Puregold was the first supermarket chain to get involved.
“We’re happy that some of the fans of the Azkals have taken their support a step further and that is to actually and concretely help management in defraying some of the cost for the Azkals through their initiative,” Palami said.
Palami, along with coach Thomas Dooley and some players, joined Puregold officials led by director Vincent Co, National Operations manager Antonio delos Santos and advertising and communications manager Ivy Piedad, in the launch of the fundraiser.
“I hope a lot of fans will be able to support the Azkals in such a way especially as we embark on the World Cup qualifiers. Sigurado, mas maraming gastos at mas maraming resources ang kailangan (This campaign will entail higher cost and we’ll need more resources for it),” said Palami.
We’re trying to fly in even better players (from overseas), we’ll have more games and more preparations para mas maganda showing natin kesa last time. Of course, our ultimate goal is to get to the World Cup. We take it one step at a time and we’re glad fans are also doing that, from the stands to this particular activity,” he added.
The Azkals will play eight home-and-away round robin matches in the World Cup Asian qualifiers beginning June, meaning going overseas four times for the fixtures.
“We spend at least $150,000 to $200,000 (per overseas trip) so for the World Cup qualifiers, we’ll have more trips and we hope more cans will be filled by the fans,” said Palami.
The “fan contributions” aim to augment the Azkals budget from Palami and financial support from the Philippine Football Football Federation and commercial sponsors.
“The team has achieved much with limited funds available and we believe it can go much farther with more funding support,” he said.
The Azkals will hold a training camp in Bahrain later this month, with one friendly likely against a Gulf nation, to start their buildup for the World Cup qualifiers.
Read more: http://www.philstar.com/sports/2015/03/03/1429673/azkals-fundraiser-launched#ixzz3TJpFuwaO
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to all the fans of football in the philippines, please prioritize those companies who helped and involved in promoting this sport. thus,it will create chain reaction,let me say that this is the new trend of helping sports,Fans brigade.nice try.
ReplyDeleteGastos lng yan at may source naman si Palami at PFF dyan bakit pa tayo magbibigay hirap na nga ang bansa natin maraming players na wlang trabaho dahil sa mga foreigners at half pinoys sa UFL.
ReplyDeletekuripot
Deletekuripot na, backward pa mag isip. di ka naman pinipilit mag donate eh.at tulong bro ang hinihingi, hindi yan sapilitan. PFF nor Palami's source are not eternal. no income from the Azkals yan, in case you don't know, gastos sa overseas training umaabot ng millions per trip.
DeletePFF will be receiving this year US$ 300,000 as support for the preparation of and participation in the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers plus an additional support of US$ 500,000 as a one-off financial bonus. They will also be given US$ 250,000 which is under the FIFA Financial Assistance Program. Philippine Football is not just about the Azkals. We can’t pour all the funds on the Azkals alone. The Filipino youth, women’s football and referees must be equally supported.
ReplyDeleteAFC and fifa has different funds for women's and youth levels. It's just the men's football which is a top triority. Come think of it, african nations get little funds compared to europeans but they are powerhouse teams and world class like mali, ivory coast, ghana, nigeria
DeleteYes, why all the focus on men's team only when we have the women's and most importantly the youth who are our future. People are tired of seeing fil-foreigners come and go while our locals needed international exposures. We can save more money if we pour all the support to our local players.
ReplyDeleteMag bigay kayo kung magbibigay kayo. Hindi yung puro reklamo kaya di umaasenso tong Bayan natin eh, kahit sa sports may mga aktibista.
ReplyDeletetama ka
DeleteBrad mukhang hindi ka umaasenso ah, kaya dinadamay mo ang buong 'bayan'.
DeleteYan ang crab mentality hahaha!
On the contrary, mas hindi aasenso ang bayan kung walang magrereklamo. Kung walang magrereklamo, hindi lalabas ang napoles scandal, afp pabaon system, hello garci. Etc.
ReplyDeletewe should not be offended by criticism. Anyway, tuloy naman ang fundraiser. So let us live and let live.
Sentido comon. Ang mga Kurakot nagnanakaw ba o humihingi ng ayuda? Pag mali ang ginagawa ng isang opisyal ng pamahalaan, mag rereklamo ka ba o hindi? Pag gumagawa ng tama para makatulong para ma improve yung isang sports sa bansa? Nasayo na yun kung tutulong ka. Anong kaibahan ng Crab Mentality sa Ipinaglalaban ang Tama?
ReplyDeleteSentido komon my a$#!! Hindi nga sinabi na wag tutulong! Badahin mo ng maigi ha!
ReplyDeleteWag ka magsasasabi ng sweeping statement na "kaya hindi umaasenso ang bayan"....
ReplyDeleteIkaw ang walang sentido kkomon bwahahaha.