THE trend of comebacks that defined this season’s Champions League has come to an end in the semifinals. None of the teams that lost in the first leg has done enough in the return match to advance. Instead, it will be back-to-back champions Real Madrid, winners over Bayern, and surprise entry Liverpool FC, conquerors of Roma, that will meet in the finals in Kyiv on May 27.
But as much as I want to write about the titans of European football, I just can’t shake off this worrysome thought about what’s happening much closer to home: the financial mess Global Cebu FC has found itself in. Unable to fly to Iloilo for a Philippines Football League match against Kaya FC, Global was quick to release a statement last May 2 about its plight. “We just don’t have the means right now to travel,” Global said on its Facebook Page. With no intention to disrespect hosts Kaya, Global explained they asked the PFL for a postponement of the match, to no avail.
Global then tried to put its fans and stakeholders at ease: “Rest assured the club is doing its best in looking for an immediate solution to our financial concerns.” The statement ended on an apologetic but optimistic note.
We can speculate all we want about how it all came to this, but Global’s rapid descent -- from championship contenders to a dying team – came as a shock. And yet portents of a fate a la Avengers at the hands of Thanos were all over.
Roughly two months ago, I wrote a series of articles, including one titled “A Global Catastrophe?”, that tried to make sense of the club’s sputtering 2018 AFC Cup group stage campaign. Perhaps it was just a lack of drive among the players, I tried to justify, and Global should bounce back in no time. Didn’t happen.
What did happen is that the once mighty Global not only failed to advance in the AFC Cup knockout stage, it’s now at the bottom of the PFL table with only a point to show after five matches. Worse, Global is now in such a sorry state that it cannot even afford to pay the team’s fare for a domestic match. Alarming, right?
But that’s not what the Filipino football fan should just be worried about: Global’s plight is symptomatic of what’s happening at the PFL and its governing body, the Liga Futbol Inc., venue, attendance and broadcast issues notwithstanding.
And yet the red flags were already flashing right before the second season started, when Loyola Meralco Sparks FC vanished into thin air because it no longer has investors. The PFL talks about expanding the league, but it seems to ignore the elephant in the room: sponsorships, or the lack of it.
Without sponsors, without investors no league of this scale can survive. The owners of Ceres-Negros FC and Kaya might have deep pockets, and Aguilas still have a willing patron in San Miguel Corp. But when resources are finite and clubs can only dream about breaking even, one begins to question: can the league last?
Global is on the brink, and who knows who might follow suit. Cash-strapped, PFL clubs are facing their toughest challenge yet. It’s like trying to kick a financial Thanos to kingdom come, except that the consequences are real, all of this is real.