Without much media hype and fanfare, El Shaddai leader Bro. Mike Velarde is deserving emulation for supporting the amazing Philippine Azkals football team.
Velarde, the charismatic head of the vastly popular religious group, is set to sign a memorandum of agreement with the Philippine Football Federation for the projected construction of a new football pitch inside Bro. Mike’s 4.5-hectare property in Parañaque.
Said PFF president Mariano “Nonong” Araneta, a past Mr. Football awardee of the Philippine Sportswriters Association: “I hope the MOA will be signed and submitted to the legal department of the International Football Federation (Fifa) in time for a Fifa conference on Feb. 28, when ‘Goal’ project proposals will be discussed.”
Added the 56-year-old Araneta, “If we can have the project approved by Feb. 28, we will have a football field in six months.”
Fifa is pitching in for the construction of the football oval with a grant of $500,000. The proposed oval, which will have an artificial pitch, is a Goal Project 2 for the Philippines.
However, Araneta stressed that the project only covers the construction of a football pitch but not a grandstand.
The Azkals, the newest toast of the local sports world, have lamented the dire lack of a football oval where they can hold—without interruption—their regular training instead of having to conduct their practice drills at different venues. The team—once laughed at contemptuously for being regarded as unexciting—has been using the football, or soccer as it is also called, the ovals of the University of Makati, Alabang Country Club, Nomads, International School and Ateneo University in Loyola.
Under the MOA, Velarde has offered a portion of the property where the proposed pitch would be constructed and an office for the PFF. Araneta added that the PFF might sell its existing building in Pasig City to beef up its fund-raising campaign for the construction of a new one.
Aside from the Fifa grant and those coming from other well-off football associations like Japan and Germany, and Velarde’s land donation, other people with hearts of gold also came to football’s rescue. Among them are business tycoon and sportsman Manny V. Pangilinan of PLDT/Smart Communications, who pledged P80 million; and equally successful businessman-sportsman Bert Lina of Air21, who added P21M for the various PFF projects in the next 10 years.
Asia Brewery, Inc., through marketing vice president Albert Tan, also pitched in by contributing P250,000. He presented the firm’s donation to Azkals team manager Dan Palami, the PSA’s “Executive of the Year” for bankrolling the team from his own pocket while Pangilinan, also known as MVP, gave P1M to fund the Azkals’ trip to Indonesia, where they lost to the host country in two close and dramatic AFF Suzuki Cup semifinal matches.
Just recently, the Azkals rebounded, beating the underrated Mongolian Blue Wolves, 2-0, before a highly partisan crowd of more than 20,000 at the Panaad Stadium in football-crazy Bacolod City.
At the moment, the PFF needs P31M for the upkeep of the national eleven for 2011. This amount, according to Araneta, will cover the training and competition expenses of the team for the Under-23 tournament in this year’s Southeast Asian Games in Indonesia; the Azkals’ participation in the second leg of the Asian Football Confederation Challenge Cup next month and the forthcoming World Cup qualifying series.
Velarde, the charismatic head of the vastly popular religious group, is set to sign a memorandum of agreement with the Philippine Football Federation for the projected construction of a new football pitch inside Bro. Mike’s 4.5-hectare property in Parañaque.
Said PFF president Mariano “Nonong” Araneta, a past Mr. Football awardee of the Philippine Sportswriters Association: “I hope the MOA will be signed and submitted to the legal department of the International Football Federation (Fifa) in time for a Fifa conference on Feb. 28, when ‘Goal’ project proposals will be discussed.”
Added the 56-year-old Araneta, “If we can have the project approved by Feb. 28, we will have a football field in six months.”
Fifa is pitching in for the construction of the football oval with a grant of $500,000. The proposed oval, which will have an artificial pitch, is a Goal Project 2 for the Philippines.
However, Araneta stressed that the project only covers the construction of a football pitch but not a grandstand.
The Azkals, the newest toast of the local sports world, have lamented the dire lack of a football oval where they can hold—without interruption—their regular training instead of having to conduct their practice drills at different venues. The team—once laughed at contemptuously for being regarded as unexciting—has been using the football, or soccer as it is also called, the ovals of the University of Makati, Alabang Country Club, Nomads, International School and Ateneo University in Loyola.
Under the MOA, Velarde has offered a portion of the property where the proposed pitch would be constructed and an office for the PFF. Araneta added that the PFF might sell its existing building in Pasig City to beef up its fund-raising campaign for the construction of a new one.
Aside from the Fifa grant and those coming from other well-off football associations like Japan and Germany, and Velarde’s land donation, other people with hearts of gold also came to football’s rescue. Among them are business tycoon and sportsman Manny V. Pangilinan of PLDT/Smart Communications, who pledged P80 million; and equally successful businessman-sportsman Bert Lina of Air21, who added P21M for the various PFF projects in the next 10 years.
Asia Brewery, Inc., through marketing vice president Albert Tan, also pitched in by contributing P250,000. He presented the firm’s donation to Azkals team manager Dan Palami, the PSA’s “Executive of the Year” for bankrolling the team from his own pocket while Pangilinan, also known as MVP, gave P1M to fund the Azkals’ trip to Indonesia, where they lost to the host country in two close and dramatic AFF Suzuki Cup semifinal matches.
Just recently, the Azkals rebounded, beating the underrated Mongolian Blue Wolves, 2-0, before a highly partisan crowd of more than 20,000 at the Panaad Stadium in football-crazy Bacolod City.
At the moment, the PFF needs P31M for the upkeep of the national eleven for 2011. This amount, according to Araneta, will cover the training and competition expenses of the team for the Under-23 tournament in this year’s Southeast Asian Games in Indonesia; the Azkals’ participation in the second leg of the Asian Football Confederation Challenge Cup next month and the forthcoming World Cup qualifying series.
An askal is a Filipino term for any dog with no pedigree, no breed, no class. The askal is usually astray, unsupported and survives by feeding on whatever provision it can find. The Filipino national football team can relate to this mongrel, they have almost no support from a government thats suppose to support them, they are underdogs not just only to the world but even in their own region, South East Asia.
Name: Angel Guirado Aldeguer
Stephan Schröck - nicknamed "Schröcky", is a German–Filipino professional footballer who plays as a right back for 2nd Bundesliga club SpVgg Greuther Fürth.
