Global Cebu FC to pay out 2018 salary debts

By Beatrice Go

MANILA, Philippines – After being in hot water for several months, Global FC owner Mark Jarvis is committing to pay the salaries the team owes its players and staff for as long as 8 months.

"We're addressing the issues of the players past and present. We're planning part-payments over two months – in waves – to pay the players off," Jarvis told reporters on Tuesday, February 12. (READ: Broken promises: Why Global Cebu players are unhappy)

"It's been a tough couple of months. This is to start 2019 with a clear and positive look."

At the start of February 2019, Global player Anton del Rosario revealed the names and how long the mentioned players and staff have not been receiving compensation from the club.

The Philippine Premier League (PPL) is monitoring Global – now renamed United Makati FC following the results of a Facebook poll – as the club is mandated to pay out its debts before the league kicks off at the end of March 2019.

Noncompliance would forfeit the club's entry to the new top tier football league of the Philippines.

According to Jarvis, the reason why the payments were delayed was because the club sponsors of the 2018 Philippines Football League season have not completely paid their dues.

But Jarvis promised that the Makati-based team will enforce programs to keep the club financially sustainable in the inaugural PPL season together with its partner MMC Sportz.

This has resulted to the re-signing of 7 to 8 players and head coach Dragutin Stević-Ranković, while new talents are coming in to see action in the country's professional club football league.

United Makati looks to activate the fans in its locality, work together with the local government, and tap Makati-based businesses to prevent the poor financial situation that unfolded in 2018.

"We're going to have a meeting with the new league management and to see how the commercial rights can be distributed, then we create a program to take advantage of the fellowship of the fans," MMC Sportz Asia CEO Eric Gottschalk said.

"Everything will be related to United Makati and we will help the league to grow. We have support from the highest authority of the Makati government."

In turn, the club which will be based in University of Makati will continue providing its grassroots program catered to the Makati community, with a goal to eventually pull in the country's talents to their youth and professional teams.

The focus on the grassroots level has also led Jarvis to put a salary cap on the club's players.

As Global FC, the club has won 3 national titles in the United Football League, has seen action in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup thrice, and nailed an AFC Champions League berth once in 2017. – Rappler.com

https://www.rappler.com/sports/by-sport/football/223335-global-cebu-fc-to-pay-out-2018-salary-debts

Kaya FC–Iloilo to host 2019 AFC Cup Matches in Panaad Stadium

Despite exhausting all efforts to prepare the venue, Iloilo Sports Complex remains short of the stadium standards required by AFC to host.

February 8, 2019 NEWS

Kaya FC–Iloilo would like to announce that the venue for our upcoming home games in the 2019 AFC Cup will be held in Panaad Stadium in Bacolod.

The club wanted nothing more than to bring AFC Cup football to the Iloilo Sports Complex, but despite exhausting all efforts to prepare the venue, ISC remains short of the stadium standards required to host an Asian Football Confederation (AFC) contest. Currently, the only available AFC-approved stadium in the Philippines is Panaad Stadium, and the Negros Occidental government, along with Ceres Negros, have been gracious in welcoming us.

Kaya FC–Iloilo would like to express our gratitude to the Provincial Government of Iloilo for their unwavering support over the first year of our flourishing partnership, and for all the efforts in upgrading the Iloilo Sports Complex. We remain committed to developing football in the region, and we are hopeful that soon we will be able to give Iloilo a firsthand experience of the excitement of hosting AFC matches.

The team still intends to train in Iloilo in the lead up to our AFC Cup games, and the club would like to invite all our supporters to make the short trip with us from Iloilo to Bacolod. Your voice and encouragement would be a massive help in our return to the Asian stage.

http://www.kayafc.com/news/kaya-fc-iloilo-to-host-2019-afc-cup-matches-in-panaad-stadium/

Ceres falls to Yangon United, 1-2

BY NIDA A. BUENAFE

Ceres-Negros FC’s campaign in the AFC Champions League this season ended earlier than expected as the Busmen bowed to the visiting Yangon United FC, 1-2, last night at the Panaad Park and Stadium in Bacolod City.

Playing their first game after almost four months, Ceres struggled against the visitors as they found themselves trailing 0-1 in 29th minute after Brazilian Vinicius de Oliveira scored for Yangon.

The equalizer from Stephan Schrock before the halftime whistle had the homecrowd breathing in relief but Yangon, determined to get the good result and quality game that Head Coach Myo Min Tun promised during the pre-match conference, regained the lead in 59th minute courtesy of substitute Kaung Htet Soe.

With the win, Yangon will advance to the second stage of the preliminaries against Thailand’s Chiang Rai United. “Very uncomfortable.

We failed to keep the opportunities that we had. We underestimated them as we expected a different team. We tried to react but it was a bit late,” Ceres Head Coach Risto Vidakovic said after the game.

Yangon playing and winning several games in their national league before heading for Bacolod for the AFC Champions League Preliminary Stage worked to their advantage, Vidadokovic pointed out, but he said this was no excuse for Ceres to drop their first game this season.

“We need to watch the video of the game and analyze things. We have three weeks to prepare for our next game,” he said, referring to the Feb. 26 AFC Cup 2019 opening match between Ceres and Shan United.

The Busmen started last night with two of their new signings, Alvaro Silva and Miguel Tanton, along with goalkeeper Roland Mueller, Shrock, Kevin Ingreso, Super Herrera, OJ Porteria, Curt Dizon, Carli de Murga, Omid Nazari, and team captain Martin Steuble. Jeffrey Christaens came in for de Murga and Bienvenido Maranon subbed Dizon late in the second half.*

http://www.visayandailystar.com/2019/February/06/sportnews1.htm

Yangon ends Ceres' 2019 AFC Champions League bid

by Beatrice Go

MANILA, Philippines – Myanmar's Yangon United denied Ceres-Negros of a 2019 AFC Champions League berth early in the preliminaries with a 2-1 win on Tuesday, February 5, at the Pana-ad Park and Stadium in Bacolod.

Yangon advances to the second preliminary round of Asia's elite club football tournament to face Chiang Rai United on Tuesday, February 12.

Even with new additions midfielder Miguel Tanton and Alvaro Silva, the Bacolod-based squad failed to conquer the visiting team which it defeated in the 2018 AFC Cup Zonal semifinal.

Ceres-Negros will represent the Philippines in the 2019 AFC Cup together with Kaya-Iloilo FC.

Yangon opened the floodgates as Brazilian midfielder Vinicius de Oliveira fired a free kick from the edge of the box toward the bottom-left corner in the 28th minute of the game.

After Ceres dodged a bullet for the Myanmar National League champion to double the lead, captain Stephan Schrock scored off a back heel in the 44th minute to equalize at 1-1, thanks to an assist by Martin Steuble.

The Burmese club halted the home side's momentum in the second half as Kaung Htet Soe came up with a close-range strike to take the lead, 2-1, in the 58th minute.

OJ Porteria had the best chances to knot the scoreline in the second half but his first attempt was saved by Yangon keeper Kyaw Zin Htet in the 68th minute, and his strike off a rebound was denied by the crossbar in the 72nd minute. – Rappler.com

https://www.rappler.com/sports/by-sport/football/222769-afc-champions-league-game-results-ceres-yangon-united-february-5-2019

AFC Champions League - Ceres-Negros vs Yangon United

February 5 7:30 PM 5 Plus http://5plus.com.ph 

CERES-NEGROS DUELS WITH YANGON UNITED IN ACL QUALIFIER

Philippine Champions Ceres-Negros FC opens their 2019 season when they host Myanmar Champions Yangon United in the Preliminary Stage clash of the AFC Champions League on February 5 at the Panaad Stadium in Bacolod City.

The two squads will rekindle their rivalry after meeting for the first time last year in the semis of the ASEAN Zone of the AFC Cup.

Both teams figured in a very entertaining semifinal in 2018 where the busmen edged the Myanmar powerhouse 6-5 in aggregate over two legs. This time however, the winner of the knockout match will progress into the next preliminary stage.

Yangon has maintained it core of foreign players in the likes of Seykou Sylla, Kosuke Yamazaki, but has added Brazilian Miller to compliment with Maug Maung Lwin. They have been very successful so far with four straight wins in the Myanmar National League.

Ceres meanwhile has retained its core of imports of Bienvenido Maranon and Super Herrera and strengthened its local players with the arrival of Angelo Marasigan, Dylan De Bruycker, and Dennis Villanueva.

The busmen are looking for nothing less than a win when they face Yangon and are keen to try and replicate what they achieved in the same tournament last season.

Ceres-Negros fought hard in their first ACL match last year where they edged Shan United in penalties before surprising Brisbane Roar with a defeat in Queensland. They are looking to do a lot better especially after falling to Tianjin in the last playoff match.

“For sure we’re ambitious,” said Ceres-Negros FC Coach Risto Vidakovic who’s leading the team for the third straight year. “We still have a lot of things to do and I think the players are motivated to repeat what they did before,” he added.

“Its very difficult to qualify for the (AFC) Champions League, especially for the group stage but we are going to compete. We are going to give everything we have to qualify,” said the Ceres mentor.

The match will be seen live in the Philippines via the 5PLUS Channel (formerly Aksyon TV) which can be found on Free TV Ch. 41, Cignal Ch. 15, Sky Ch. 59, and TV Plus Ch. 30). The match will also be streamed live at the ESPN5.com (Philippines only).

Ceres-Negros is expecting a good crowd on Tuesday as the day was declared a national holiday due to the lunar new year. Festivities will start at 7PM Philippine time in the historic stadium.

http://ceresfootball.com/ceres-negros-duels-yangon-united-acl-qualifier/

Schrock optimistic of Ceres-Negros chances vs. Yangon Utd in AFC Champions League

Ceres-Negros will open their campaign in the AFC Champions League 2019 preliminaries against Yangon United of Myanmar on Feb. 5 at the Panaad Park and Sports Stadium.

During the team’s visit and press conference Thursday at the Bacolod City National High School, Ceres’ star midfielder Stephan Schrock expressed his optimism that the Busmen will prevail over the visitors from Myanmar.

“I’m very confident that we will win. We’re very grateful to represent the city,” Schrock said.

“We have very good additions, (replacing) the veterans who left, and the team’s mindset is always winning,” he added.

Last month, Patrick Reichelt, who played for Ceres-Negros for five years, left the team, along with fellow veteran Manny Ott and Spanish goalkeeper Toni Doblas. The team also released defender Jerry Barbasao, who joined the team last year.

Replacing their spots in the team are keeper Ronilio Bayan Jr., defenders Alvaro Silva and Dennis Villanueva, and midfielders Miguel Tanton, Angelo Marasigan and Dylan de Bruycker.

Echoing Schrock’s optimism, Ceres-Negros assistant coach Ian Treyes said the team is highly-motivated to face Yangon Unted.

“The adjustment with the new players is in the system. Each of us is 100 percent focused on this game,” Treyes said.

A win against Yangon United will allow Ceres to advance against Chiangrai United of Thailand in the second stage of the preliminaries.*

http://www.visayandailystar.com/2019/February/02/sportnews1.htm

Pangasinan - May 25-26 Philippine Beach Games