Cebu Football 2014

Cebu Football in 2014 was ironically not as “loud” as 2013 but one that featured a nice mix of a lot of activities. Cebu hosted another international event for a second straight year, sent players for training to the United Kingdom, implemented courses for coaches, and before we forget, played a lot of football.

The highlight of the year would have to be Cebu’s hosting of a group stage of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) President’s Cup, an inter-club tournament of the AFC that is patterned after the ones in the UEFA and South America. We’re nowhere near the Champions’ League level but we had to start somewhere, didn’t we. Coming over to play were leading clubs from Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Bhutan and the Philippines. Topping the group to move to the final round were Dordoi FC of Kyrgyzstan and second seed KRL FC of Pakistan. Global FC of the Philippines placed third in the group and didn’t qualify for the knock-out stage. Yeedzin FC of Bhutan finished at fourth. KRL eventually made it to the AFC President’s Cup finals, bowing to Balkan FC, 0-1. Although the Philippines failed to qualify for the final round, the Cebu football scene was the real winner as it proved that it can host an international event despite the lack of football infrastructure. Long hours were spent for the preparation of the event and when the dust cleared, the local organizing committee got a “thumbs up” rating from the Salman Namsham, the AFC’s match commissioner who was on top of everything. After hosting an Azklas game in 2013, Cebu levelled up by hosting a full schedule of group play of an important international event which ran for almost two weeks. On the lighter side, Cebu also hosted a game of the Frenz ASEAN U15 Cup with Global FC facing Frenz Malaysia-B. And so aside from boxing, triathlon, dancesport and running, Cebu is now ready for international football.

Another highlight was Cebu’s sending four players to the United Kingdom for a training and study trip with the Philippine Under 11 national training team. Cebu had the biggest representation as a local football association with its four players from the Don Bosco Technology Center: Jupert Asignar, Tristan Karl Enad, Yuan Josemaria Reña and Charles Unabia. Coach Dave Gerali also joined the delegation. This only proved that Cebu’s grassroots movement continues to grow as it produced players who stood out at the training camp conducted for the program.

In line with the growing grassroots development, Cebu Football was tapped as the beneficiary of Azkals coach Hans Michael Weiss when he was awarded as a German Football Ambassador by the Deutsche Fusball Botschafter for 2013. Weiss donated football equipment that was part of his prize for winning the award. Some eleven local and deserving football clubs were beneficiaries of footballs and they all now compete in the local football tournaments. Another pleasant surprise was the heroic gesture of a Japanese girl named Momoko Shimoda who donated football shoes to the Cebu Football Association. Knowing that her brother and his teammates had outgrown their football shoes, she worked to get all these and asked her father Shigeru Shimoda to bring these with him on his business trips to the Philippines. The initial donation was then followed up by another wave of football shoes which have found their way to different deserving clubs whose players play either barefooted or with ordinary rubber shoes.

The coaches of Cebu also got into the action with the “C” License course for coaches which was conducted by the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) and the AFC. In line with its thrust to improve the level of coaching in Cebu, the CFA is now looking into a scenario where all football coaches must be “C” licensed in order to coach. Aside from this, a national coaching certificate course was also conducted as a prelude to those who aspire for a “C” license course. With the growing number of players and clubs, the CFA realizes the need for competent and qualified coaches to handle their respective clubs. For football clubs development, the first ever General Assembly of the CFA was also held for all member clubs. The officers of the CFA were inducted; the annual financial report was presented; special awards were given to deserving people/clubs; and we had two youth football teams performing on stage.

And of course, what is Cebu Football without its tournaments, right? The year was loaded with football games every weekend with the Aboitiz Football Cup serving as Cebu’s premier event. We also had the different football festivals in between the long-running tournaments. Players of all ages and sizes are now a regular sight at football pitches and tournaments. And they’re all having fun, enjoying the game that the world loves.

So who said 2013 was a quiet year for football?

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Time-out: Bro. Louis Tremblay, S.J. will be laid to rest today. The funeral mass will be at 8:30am at the Lux Oriens Gym of the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu in Canduman. We ask all our readers to pray for his eternal repose. >>> You can reach me at [email protected].