ONE hundred and 52 teams have signed up for the Central Visayas Regional Football Association Festival Cup, which will kick off on July 1 at the Cebu City Sports Center.
Organized by the Central Visayas Football Association (CVFA), the President’s Cup is the first football festival in the city since the pandemic halted sports activities two years ago. It will have the Mixed 9 and 11-Under divisions, the Boys 13 and 15-Under, which will be played on Friday.
On Saturday, it will be the turn of the Boys 17 and 19-Under, the Girls 17 and 19-Under and Men’s 21 divisions.
On Sunday, it will be the Men’s and Ladies’ Open and the Men’s 38 and 50-Above divisions.
“This all started when Dr. Alvin Roxas suggested to the CVFA board that we should be the one to start organizing football tournament since some of the other regional FAs have started their own programs due to the lowering of the IATF protocols,” said CVFA president Rodney Orale who hopes to turn this event into an annual affair.
The men’s open attracted the most number of entries with 40, while the Boys 13 and 15 divisions have 16 each.
Aside from the usual powerhouse teams from Cebu, the tournament will also have out-of-town participants from the cities of Naga, Carcar, Dumaguete and San Carlos, and Bohol.
After the event, the CVFA is also planning to concluded the interrupted 2020 season of the Aboitiz Cup by handing out trophies to the winners of the divisions that were finished before the Covid-19 pandemic forced local lockdowns.
“The Aboitiz Group of companies will always be a part of the CVFA journey. Without them, it will be a very big challenge to develop football in Central Visayas,” said Orale of Aboitiz, which has sponsored the longest-running football tournament in the country. (PR)