Spearheading the press conference for the Sinulog Football Festival were (from left) CFA vice president Rico Navarro, Committee on Youth and Sports chairman Jerry Guardo and tournament director Glenn Quisido.
CDN PHOTO/CHRISTIAN MANINGO
Organizers are putting a limit on the number of participants for this year’s 8th Sinulog Football Festival 2018, which starts this weekend at the football field of the Cebu City Sports Center.
The 7-a-side tournament aims to strengthen the grassroots and youth development of football in Cebu.
There will be 143 teams vying for the 15 titles at stake. The number is slightly lower than last’s edition because the organizing Cebu Football Association (CFA) wants to limit the number of participants.
“We have limited the number of entries because we wanted to end earlier maybe at 8 p.m. The last time we ended at 11 p.m.,” said tournament director Glenn Quisido.
Among the 143 teams are three entries from Bohol — G-Hernandez FC, which will be seeing action in the U15 and U18 Boys, Panglao FC in the U18 Boys, and Tamblot United in the 38 Above.
Quisido said that there are more teams from neighboring islands that wanted to join the tournament but that they gave preference to teams coming from Bohol since the CFA will soon transition to the Central Visayas Regional Football Association, which will put Cebu and Bohol under one regional FA.
Aside from the U15 Boys, U18 Boys and the 38 Above, other categories to be contested are U7 Mix, U9Mix, U11 Mix, U13 Boys, U15 Girls, U18 girls, 45 Above, Inter BPO Men’s, Inter BPO Ladies, Inter Company, U18 Boys, Ladies Open and the Men’s Open.
Councilor Jerry Guardo, who chairs the Committee on Youth and Sports, said that the Cebu City government is fully supporting the event, especially that they also wanted football to be promoted in the grassroots and youth level.
According to Guardo, the city government was encouraged to give its full support to football competitions after they got to see the home games of the Global Cebu FC in the Philippines Football League (PFL).
Aside from the trophies and medals, the Cebu City government is also taking care of the meals of the staff.
To improve the tournament, some minor changes will be implemented.
According to Quisido, two tents will be set up at the sides of the pitches to serve as holding areas for teams who will be seeing action to cut down on the waiting time. The pitch will also be cordoned off so only the teams seeing action and referees will be able to go inside.
All games is a must win, there will be no draws, so games that end in a draw will be decided via penalty shootout even during the eliminations.
Organizers have put up a shootout area so as not to hamper the game schedule.
Only one kicker per team will be allowed in the shootout in the eliminations and three kickers in the championships.
There will be no opening ceremonies so games will start at 8 a.m. and only the first game will be given a grace period. Thus, all teams are advised to be at the venue early.
The format will depend on the number of brackets that each category will have.
Categories to be played this Saturday are U7 Mix, U9 Mix, U11 Mix, U13 Boys, U15 Boys, U15 Girls, and U18 Girls. On Sunday will be games in the 45 Above, Inter BPO Men’s, Inter BPO Ladies, 38 Above, Inter Company, Ladies Open, U18 Boys, and Men’s Open.