Thirsty Football Cup to be back with a bang in Feb. 2023 – organizers
Football players celebrate after winning a match in the 2019 Thirsty Football Cup at the CCSC. | Photo from the Thirsty Football Cup Facebook page (FILE PHOTO)
CEBU CITY, Philippines — With the postponement of its 2020 edition, the Thirsty Football Cup is preparing for an exciting comeback on Feb. 10 to 12, 2023, at the Cebu City Sports Center (CCSC) pitch.
This tournament, which is one of Cebu’s biggest and grandest football tilt, will open up its online registration on Dec. 20, 2022 and will end on Jan. 23, 2023.
In a virtual presser on Friday, Dec. 16, the organizers comprised of John Pages, Neil Montesclaros, and Chad Songalia revealed that they were very excited to welcome back footballers into their tournament which is on its 17th edition.
This football tournament should have been on its 20th edition, if not for the COVID-19 pandemic. Its 2020 edition that was scheduled in the last week of February was initially moved to April on that year. However, they were forced to cancel it due to the lockdowns caused by the pandemic.
Instead, they provided refunds for the registration fees of the 281 participating teams.
Back in February 2023
Now that the restrictions have been eased, they have decided to bring back the tournament in February next year.
“It would have been the 20th edition of Thirsty Cup if not for the pandemic. So, we scheduled this every last weekend of February,” Songalia said.
“Ato nga time nagkasaka na ang cases. Mao the tournament got cancelled, sad to say. After two years, it’s back. Mao ni siya ang 17th Thirsty Football Cup. We will be back next year with a bang,” he said.
(At that time the cases were increasing. That is why the tournament got cancelled, sad to say. After two years, it’s back. This is the 17th Thirsty Football Cup. We will be back next year with a bang.)
“We’re expecting a huge number of teams because even before that, as early as last year, daghan na sige ug pangutana (Many have already inquired). Hopefully, magpadayon na (this will continue),” he said.
They are limiting the number of teams to more or less 200 in the 17 categories featured in the three-day action. It is to ensure that all teams can compete and have the tournament to finish on time.
The categories are players-7, players-9, players-11, boys-13, girls-13, boys-15, girls-15, boys-17, girls-17, boys-19, girls-19, mixed open, ladies open, moms’, men’s open, 40-above, and 50-above.
Thirsty Football Cup venue
For Pages, there is no other venue in the city that is big enough to host such huge football tournament than CCSC.
He said that was why it would remain the official venue for February’s action.
Pages, who is also the chairman of the Cebu City Sports Commission, said that his agency would surely provide support. However, it will depend on the budget approved by the Cebu City government.
Nonetheless, Thirsty Football Cup has been successful throughout its inception in 2003 as a stand-alone and privately funded tournament. However, a help from the CCSC would surely add more success to it.
“We expect overflowing interest from our football community considering the FIFA World Cup just happened during that time, and the two-year absence of this tournament. However, we need to set certain limitations to ensure the quality of the tournament,” said Pages.
“I’m assuming that we have to turn down teams, it’s a first come, first served. So we are asking the participants to complete the registration form,” Pages said.
Songalia said that they were cooking up surprises and new features of the tournament to add excitement not just for the competing teams, but also to the spectators.
They are also requesting interested teams to keep their eyes peeled for the start of the online registration on Dec. 20.
RELATED STORIES
Cesafi HS football: DBTC Greywolves are champs after routing SHS-AdC Magis in finals
UC stuns USJ-R booters in Cesafi men’s football tourney
Warriors tame Panthers with a 3-0 win in Cesafi men’s football tournament
UC Webmasters rout USP-F Panthers in Cesafi college football tournament
USJ-R Jaguars maul USP-F Panthers in Cesafi college football tournament
Paris celebrates win after high-stakes World Cup clash with Morocco
Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Cebudailynews. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.
