20 January 2011

Int'l tourney features Azkals, 3 SEA teams

By FRANCIS SANTIAGO

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Football Federation (PFF) announced on Thursday it has struck a deal with Asia Brewery to stage an international football competition featuring the Philippine Azkals later this year.

Dubbed as the 1st Manila Beer Cup, the event will see three other Southeast Asian teams going up the Azkals in a single round robin format where the team with most number of victories emerging as champion.

PFF chief Mariano Araneta said he sat down with Hubert Tan, Asia Brewery's vice president for sales, on Tuesday and they agreed to stage the tourney sometime in October at the Rizal Memorial football stadium in Manila.

Asia Brewery donated P250,000 to the Azkals' campaign in the recent AFF Suzuki Cup in Indonesia where the nationalteam, beefed up by Fil-foreigners, reached the semifinals for the first time.

"We might invite teams from Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia to join in the four-nation competition," Araneta said.

Araneta said he will extend the invitation to the countries' respective officials during the Asean Football Federation (AFF) meeting on Feb. 19.

Meanwhile, Araneta said the Panaad Stadium in the Bacolod City is being spruced up in time for the Azkals' 2012 AFC qualifying game against Mongolia on Feb. 9.

"The lighting is now being fixed while the dressing rooms are under going renovations," said Araneta, noting that part of the budget used for the reconstruction came from the P1-million fund released by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC).

Giant TV network ABS-CBN will telecast the highly-anticipated match, which is the first leg of the home-and-away qualifier with the second meeting set March 15 at the National Stadium in Ulan Bator in Mongolia.

Manila Bulletin

6 comments:

  1. Ayan! We'll finally see how the Rizal Memorial Stadium looks like after its renovations, if it has been renovated at all.

    "We might invite teams from Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia to join..."
    ASEAN countries again? They're good teams but that kinda already happened during the Suzuki cup. It's good exposure for the Azkals and pinoy fans will love it, but as a "replay" of the Suzuki cup I don't think it will be as big of an event.

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  2. nice move by the PFF..pinapakita nila na hindi na inutil ang football federation dito sa pinas when it comes to organizing international tournaments....

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  3. They are feeding the demand and thats a good thing. Hopefully, were on our way to creating a professional league in the Philippines which will be marketed and developed with the correct funding and participation of more corporate sponsors. PFF should study how the UFL can be expanded as the players are there already and every one of them would jump at the chance of playing professionally here in the Philippines.

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  4. I think the decision to invite teams from SEA is a good move since we are still on that level. I dont think teams from East Asia alone will bother playing against us. But what we could do is invite the "B" teams of these stronger nations. International exposure is always a good thing.

    Keep the momentum going! The Fil-foreigners will continue coming as long as we're doing well and the UFL will continue to expand to provide a steady local pool of talent. Good things to come, keep up the good work!

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  5. Yes, we're on the SEA level and it's a good thing that the Azkals are getting more playing time with other teams, but I was talking more about the tournament as an event. Perhaps people will grow tired if the Azkals keep playing the same teams. But I know we're slowly working our way to that level.

    Anyway, I think the UFL already has the basic ingredients to make a great league. They have the teams and if I'm not mistaken, footballalliance has made a way of making the league professional through sponsors. All there is left to do is to go to the next level skill wise, in facilities, and in terms of TV exposure.

    I also love it that in comments sections of BASKETBALL articles in news sites, people are saying stuff like "Dapat FOOTBALL nalang ang nilalaro ng Pinoy!"

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  6. siguro ngayon maraming ng kabataan na hihilig sa football;))

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