Tashkent: Football in the Philippines will mark a day like no other on Saturday, when the nation’s top teams take their first steps in the continent’s greatest club competition; the AFC Champions League.
On opposite sides of the continent, not one, but two clubs from the Philippines Football League will play their first ever AFC Champions League matches on Saturday, with United City facing off with Beijing FC in Tashkent, while Kaya FC-Iloilo will meet BG Pathum United more than 4,000 kilometres away in Thailand.
While the Philippines national team made history of its own by reaching the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, these are uncharted waters in club football.
Never before has even one Filipino club reached the group stage – and not since Pasay City’s 1995 participation in the former Asian Club Championship have any appeared at the equivalent level - but as can often be the case at this time of the year in the archipelago, when it rains, it pours.
It is progress that has been a long time coming, particularly for United City, who just seven years ago were playing the AFC President’s Cup, the now-defunct third-tier Asian club competition featuring teams from emerging nations.
Since then, the club formerly known as Ceres-Negros have not only established themselves in the AFC Cup, but taken some memorable scalps in the AFC Champions League preliminary rounds, with their ticket to the group stage finally stamped as a result of this season’s expanded competition format.
That means the club eliminated by Turkmenistan’s HTTU Ashgabat back in the 2014 President’s Cup will now cross paths with the likes of star-studded Japanese champions Kawasaki Frontale, among others.
United City captain Stephan Schrock has been there for much of the ride.
Born and raised in Germany by a Filipino mother, Schrock made his debut for the Philippines national team in 2011, and swapped Europe for Southeast Asia to join United City in 2016, going on to star for the club in milestone victories over Australia’s Brisbane Roar and Port FC of Thailand.
Serving in a player-coach role in Tashkent, 34-year-old Schrock says reaching the ultimate stage in Asian club football is the culmination of a dream.
“We’re coming from a league with six teams. To have two teams participating in the Champions League – especially for Kaya – means we’re doing quite good work in the Philippines,” said the 47-cap international.
“For us as a nation, becoming a football nation and changing the culture and sports mentality there, it’s a big boost for everyone, and also to understand the AFC Champions League is the very, very top. Having two teams participating will hopefully change the culture, the way we will play and the way we will fight.
“If you grow up in Europe, playing the Champions League is every boy’s dream, and to make this come true tomorrow, it’s just amazing.”
With four successive league titles to their name on the domestic front, United City have long been the Philippines’ AFC Champions League-team-in-waiting, but Kaya-Iloilo’s rise has come out of the blue.
The club finished second in a severely shortened 2020 league season, earning a place in the AFC Champions League Preliminary rounds, where they were considered outsiders to beat Brisbane, with the winners of that match to advance to a playoff clash against Chinese powerhouse Shanghai Port.
Brisbane’s withdrawal from the competition meant the two-game qualification path became a 90-minute shootout, with Audie Menzi’s goal securing a famous win against a depleted Shanghai outfit, and sending Kaya to the group stage.
“It’s a dream to be honest,” said Kaya midfielder Marwin Angeles, who is now in his 11th year of domestic football in the Philippines.
“It’s something that every player would love - to play at this stage. It’s not just personal, but everybody. As you can see after the last game, you can feel the happiness from each player.
“We’re not playing for ourselves but for our families, club, country and for the people who have worked hard for us to be here. What we achieved is something we will treasure for the rest of our lives. It’s a huge honour to be here, and we will do our best tomorrow.”
United City have also been inspired by Kaya’s heroics.
They’ll face a Beijing FC side hampered by similar personnel issues to the ones faced by Shanghai Port, and Schrock admits his side have been boosted by the realisation that Saturday’s match looms as one they can win.
“It gives us hope,” he said. “Kaya beat Shanghai, but it was also a very tight and hard-fought game. For us, we’re just looking to do well, In general, as a unit, as a team and as a club. Obviously, you play football to win games and that’s the main goal in every competition.
“But I’m not really focusing on this game or that game. As a club, as a team, we want to improve game by game and do well as a unit.”
While there is justifiable optimism around both clubs, there are other factors which should act to temper expectations for the AFC Champions League’s Filipino pioneers.
With the COVID-19 pandemic ongoing, last year’s drastically shortened domestic season has been followed by a 2021 campaign which has yet to begin, but despite the obvious challenges, Schrock can at least promise that his side won’t let this opportunity come and go without a mighty effort.
“For us it's quite difficult to prepare for such a big event, but we are very excited and very proud and honoured to be part of the Champions League, especially coming from a country that has never participated in this event," he said.
“We will give it a good fight. Some of the boys haven’t had a proper competition since October last year so it will be quite a challenge for us, but we are here to make the best of it.”
https://www.the-afc.com/competitions/afc-champions-league/latest/news/a-dream-come-true-united-city-kaya-fc-iloilo-set-for-historic-philippines-double
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