DESPITE that loss to Kaya FC recently, Global Cebu is still on course for a top four finish in the Philippines Football League (PFL) and because of the unique setup of the eight-team league, the most important match to win in the league is the semifinal in the playoff phase.
The reason? The top two teams after the playoffs will get the two spots for the AFC competition. It’s not the league winner and the cup winner, so there’s no incentive to being No. 1. Though I think that’s going to change next year.
That’s what I learned during a brief chat with Hinko Kostanjevec, the managing director of Global Cebu FC. That was just one of the many things we discussed in that brief meeting and most of the developments will benefit Cebu football.
Fans have known since the start that players from Global Cebu simply fly in whenever they have a home game and fly out after it. That’s an added cost the team has to take before they complete their transfer to Cebu.
One of the key points impeding the move is the lack of a training venue for Global. Right now, the Cebu City Sports Center is used as their venue for their home games but for their full training regimen, the CCSC isn’t feasible. Doing so means closing the venue for football-only use for five days a week and that deprives the health buffs in Cebu of their favorite running ground.
So, for the past few months, Hinko has been scouring the city for a good place to put up a training pitch and he has found two. It may be called a training pitch but I think once Global Cebu finishes up all the work, it’s going to be the best pitch in the city. There will be two pitches (for both venues) so they can alternate their uses and help preserve the quality.
And of course, if you have a new pitch for Global, it also means a new venue for the local tournaments. Just imagine, the Thirsty or SunStar Cup played in the new pitch, at night.
But it won’t be just a new venue though as Global Cebu hopes to put up a new league for the youth teams—not a cup type competition, mind you but a league—and that alone is something that could spice up local football.
There was the Aboitiz League a decade ago but since then, there have been no attempts. It looks like 2018 is going to be a banner year for local football.