THE annual Thirsty Football Cup isn’t just your ordinary football festival. It has already gained nationwide attention over the past years and on its 12th edition, the visiting teams come in droves to join the biggest football festival in Cebu.
“There are over 200 teams and this year, we have more outside teams,” organizer Chad Songalia said in yesterday’s press conference in the Sushi Boy Japanese Restaurant.
“This is the year with the most number of outside teams.”
There are a total of 28 clubs that are from outside Cebu, wherein each club is fielding one or more teams in different divisions.
Some of the visiting teams this year are the youth club of UFL teams Loyola Meralco Sparks, Ateneo de Davao, South Shield, Xavier Manila, San Carlos City, The Beacon Academy Laguna, Sta. Barbara Iloilo, Escalante City, Manila Soccer Academy, St. Scholastica of Bacolod, Roseville School of Cagayan de Oro and some teams from Negros.
There are also teams that are sponsored by Thirsty, the Tacloban Pintados and Pintadas, which are a group of players that are from Tacloban City.
The 12th Thirsty Football Cup has a total of 13 divisions – Mixed Under-7, Mixed Under-9, Mixed Under-11, Boys Under-13, Boys Under-15, Girls Under-15, Boys Under-18, Girls Under-18, Boys Under-23, Girls Under-23, Men’s Open, Women’s Open and 38-and-Above.
Because of the increase of demand of teams wanting to join the yearly football meet, the organizers have limited the slots of each division to increase the quality of the tournament.
“In the beginning we had less than a hundred teams then there was a time where there were more than 300 teams. After that we limited it,” said Songalia.
The 12th Thirsty Football Cup kicks off tomorrow and will run up until Sunday evening at the Cebu City Sports Center football pitch.
The first wave of matches will be on Friday afternoon with games in the Mixed Under-9, Mixed Under-11, Boys Under-23, Men’s Open and 38-and-Above divisions.
“We are pleased to host the 12th Thirsty Football on Feb. 20, 21 and 22 at the Cebu City Sports Center. This is the company’s modest contribution to sports development and to help encourage people to be health conscious,” said Pages Holdings, Inc. CEO Bunny Pages.