WITH 89 percent of the surveyed populace inclined towards the creation of a national league, the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) on Saturday presented an overview and guidelines of the Philippines Football League (PFL) set to kick off in March next year.
PFF General-Secretary Edwin Gastanes said that the league, which will be the country’s top tier league and will serve as the qualifying for all international competitions, is eyeing to put six to eight teams in order to start the tournament, which will run for eight months in its initial season.
While the current de-facto top tier in the country – the United Football League – is based in Manila, the PFL will go down to the cities and provinces to further strengthen its fan base and football in general.
Football is third as the most popular sports in the Philippines behind basketball and volleyball.
For its inaugural season, the PFL will only have one division – playing in a home-and-away, double round-robin format with top four teams advancing to the semis and later in the finals.
Based on the study made by the PFF, among the potential localities which can serve as home turf to participating clubs were rated based on the existing infrastructures, accessibility, capacity of fans to pay, existence of sponsors, and fan appreciation of the sport.
The 14 localities are the following: Luzon – Manila, Makati, Quezon City, Marikina, Santa Maria (Bulacan), Bocaue (Bulacan), Laguna, and Pampanga; Visayas – Cebu City, Bacolod City and Iloilo City; and Mindanao –Davao City, Cagayan de Oro City, and Zamboanga City.
“Though Panaad Stadium is a good home venue for Negros Occidental Football Association, it still has to improve its facilities in order to meet the required standard set in the competition requirements,” Gastanes said.
Each team should have minimum of 25 players with a maximum of 30, including three goalkeepers, four foreign players (3+1 player from the Asian Football Confederation), and a minimum of three youth players in the roster.
Gastanes said that each participating club must have a youth program.
“Interested clubs may submit their applications, not later than December 31, 2016,” the PFF official said.