A TOTAL of 15 teams are seeing action in the 4th Pinay in Action (PIA) Cup football tournament set to unfurl on Friday, January 11, at the Tionko field, Barangay 76-A, Matina, Davao City.
PIA project manager Ayra Malabayabas, in a phone interview with SunStar Davao, said these 15 teams already confirmed. "That's our target number of teams in this 9-A-Side tournament. This will be the first time to bring the league in Davao City," she said.
However, one or a couple of teams might still join.
Davao City teams Sikat Alab Football Team, CR7-Food Truck (Davao), PCT-Medvil Football Club (Davao) and University of the Philippines (UP) Mindanao Football Club will vie for honors in the tournament organized by PIA, an advocacy arm of Pia S. Cayetano in promoting among others, sports and women empowerment.
Four Manila teams are also competing - UP Women’s Football Team X, UP Women’s Football Team Y (Manila), University of Sto. Tomas Women’s Football Team A and University of Sto. Tomas Women’s Football Team B along with Sky Warriors Football Club of Maco, Compostela Valley; FC 95 Iligan Ladies of Iligan; Bellas Chikaz of Kidapawan, Lianga Football Club without a Pitch of Lianga, Surigao del Sur; Baliwasan-Red Corals United Football Club of Zamboanga City; Tiago Football Club of Dapitan; and Bad Bonitas of Dipolog City.
Cayetano, in a press statement, said that sports can be a very powerful tool to empower women. Thus she launched the Pinay In Action: Empowering Girls One Goal At A Time, a year-round nationwide program aimed at empowering girls through sports, specifically football.
The first two legs were held in Cagayan de Oro City while the third edition was conducted in Dumaguete City.