Milo aligns football event with int’l standard

THE move to adopt the 11-a-side format in this year’s football competition of the Milo Little Olympics is part of organizer’s goal to align the sport with its international format.

Of the 13 sports in the Milo Little Olympics set to open this Friday at the Cebu City Sports Center, only football remains to be the sport, which although follows international rules, is not under an international format.

“It’s a smaller version of a bigger game. Kung sa basketball game pa, parang three on three. But this time, we want to bring football in a more competitive level,” said Milo Sports’ Robbie De Vera.

De Vera added that this is part of the yearly innovation that the group is doing to raise the standard of competition.

“This is also the proper timing to elevate the sport in this level with its rising popularity,” said De Vera, who is a three-time Southeast Asian Games football player.

The sports executive said that in the future, they will try to integrate a girls’ division in the football category especially that it is also equally gaining popularity in key areas like Cebu, Mindanao and NCR.

Football tournament manager Danilo Ramos said that the addition of Iloilo teams in the list will spark exciting matches this weekend.

“Iloilo has strong football teams and Abellana and Don Bosco also have new players so it could be anybody’s game,” said Ramos.