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Post by Usapang Football on Sept 16, 2010 14:45:02 GMT 8
www.gmanews.tv/story/174353/new-league-to-help-boost-philippine-footballThe football scene in the Philippines is expected to get a much-needed boost with the launch of the United Football League (UFL) next week. The three-leg series, a build-up event for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, will have a confirmed participation of 16 corporate-backed teams, representing 400 players from various football clubs in the country, plus Korean and Japanese expat teams and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). “Football is arguably the second most played sport in the Philippines next to basketball, with millions of kids playing it all over the country. We need to give them a league wherein they can aspire to play in one day," said Philip Hagedorn, head of the Football Alliance (FA), the prime mover group of the UFL. While far from being a play-for-pay league, the FA is optimistic that this will be a good opportunity to jumpstart the sport and make it a premiere league in Asia. Hagedorn pointed out that the RP was a pioneer of the sport in Asia and has had its shining moments when it emerged as Far East Games champions in 1913, and later beat Asian powerhouse Japan in 1917 and 1958 in the Asian Games. The RP team became a semifinalist in the 1991 Manila Southeast Asian Games but since then, the country’s presence in the global football arena has waned. Venues for the UFL will be the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex, the Ateneo de Manila Football Field, the Philippine Army Football Field, and Nomads Football Field in Parañaque, which will host the opening games on October 17. – Adrian Flores, GMANews.TV
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Post by mirak on Dec 24, 2010 18:28:35 GMT 8
HAVE YOUR SAY: South-East Asian soccer league proposed Officials in Malaysia and Indonesia are proposing a South-East Asian club soccer league in order to rekindle a dying club game in the region
AP Photo
For the last 14 years, South-East Asian countries have been battling it out for regional football supremacy through the ASEAN Football Championship, and there might soon be another tournament in the form of a regional club football league.
Jointly proposed by officials in Malaysia and Indonesia, the league, should it come to fruition, would aim to rejuvenate a dying South-East Asian club game.
The league will be set up within the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) itself, and Malaysia's Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek was quoted by Reuters as saying that "a league among ASEAN countries will help raise the standard of football in the region".
His Indonesian counterpart Andi Mallarangeng has also reportedly approved of the plan.
Fans and players alike in Singapore have long lamented the departure of the Malaysia Cup from the island, complaining that stadium atmosphere in the resulting S-League is relatively unenthusiastic.
This has pushed several key local players into other regional leagues, most of whom choosing to play in Indonesia, citing quiet crowds and empty stadiums.
At the moment, national teams from each country meet once every two years at both the ASEAN Football Championship (previously the Tiger Cup), last won by Vietnam in 2008, and the SEA Games.
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