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The Philippine Football League (PFL) set an optimistic goal to open its season 30 days after the resumption of training on September 2.
Speaking at the Philippine Sports Writers Association Forum on Tuesday morning, Philippine Football Federation (PFF) President Nonong Araneta and PFL Commissioner Coco Torre addressed concerns regarding the the country’s main soccer league.
The start of the PFL hinges on the next few weeks after soccer clubs finally received the green light to train at the PFF National Training Center.
According to Araneta, the PFL will seek approval from the Games and Entertainment Board (GAB) and the Inter-Institutional Task Force (IATF) to start the competition when the training period goes well.
“We have to first see how the training is developing regarding the observance of security protocols and the site itself, the site security protocols,” Araneta said. “Maybe after half a month or 20 days, if everything goes well, then we will have to apply again to the IATF, to the GAB at the restart of the league.”
“Yung’s consideration for approval depends on the success of how we carry out the trainings,” Torre added. “So we really hope to have zero infections during the training benchmark to pass the IATF application to start the league.”
The PFL is hopeful that there will be enough time to hold a double-round competition with six clubs. The format could still be changed depending on how long the league has to complete the season.
Organizers are still studying whether the entire league has to enter a bubble during the season.
“The first option is that we go with a bubble, let’s say we do the bubble for a month, the youth competition would be a month long,” Torre said. “The second option to combat COVID-19 is the frequency of testing.”
Torre went on to point out that while the NBA has set a good example through the implementation of a bubble, most soccer leagues around the world continued without having to enter a bubble.
“The NBA made a bubble, but other youth soccer leagues didn’t bubble,” he added.
Six teams are expected to compete during the 2020 season, namely United City FC, Kaya FC, Azkals Development Team, 1991 Mendiola FC, Stallion Laguna FC and the newly formed Maharlika FC.
At press time, Maharlika FC, which was founded by former Filipino Azkal Anton del Rosario, is awaiting approval from the PFF Trial Body to obtain a license to compete this season. The newly created club is expected to take the place of Global FC, which lost its place due to its inability to meet its financial obligations.
Extra time:
– The PFF will receive funds from FIFA for COVID relief in the amount of US $ 1.5 million. Part of the relief will be used for the restart of soccer, while $ 500,000 will go to women’s soccer.
– Araneta expects the 2020 AFC Cup competition to be further delayed due to the increase in COVID cases in Vietnam. Despite the delay, Araneta said the AFC is looking for a new venue to complete the season this year.
– AFC seeks to end the 2020 season due to sponsorship commitments.
