After several postponements, the much-anticipated Aboitiz Football Cup will finally get rolling on Jan. 25 in various venues around Cebu City.
Cebu’s longest-running football tournament will mark its 17th edition this year. It is co-organized by the Aboitiz Equity Ventures and the Cebu Football Association (CFA).
The event was initially set to start on Dec. 7 last year but was postponed due to some concerns, said CFA Vice President Rico Navarro.
With the Aboitiz Sports Field in the North Reclamation Area in Mandaue City closed, the organizers are now eyeing the San Roque Parish Football Field, University of San Carlos- Talamban and Cebu City Sports Center (CCSC) as possible venues for the tournament.
Navarro said that on launching day, only an opening program will be presented as they have not yet decided if matches will be held that day. He added that the CFA is still finalizing all the details of the tournament so it can proceed after over a month of delay.
The tournament has seven-aside, nine-aside and 11-aside formats with 16 age groups featuring Cebu’s best football clubs and school-based teams.
The age-group categories are under-7, under-9, under-11, under-13 boys and girls, under-15 boys and girls, under-18 boys and girls, under-23 boys, inter-BPO open, inter-company open, ladies’ open, men’s open and the 38-above division.
Last year’s Aboitiz Football Cup was marred by controversy with two teams disqualified in the under-18 division due to an ugly brawl which resulted in a full-blown probe. The CFA then banned the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (SHS-AdC) and the Alcoy Football Club from the tournament. Three spectators caught participating in the brawl were also banned for life from all CFA sanctioned tournaments while several players were meted six-month suspensions.
Also hogging some of last year’s spotlight was the Nigerian-backed University of Cebu (UC) BRO Nationals which ousted defending champion Cebu Queen City United in the semifinals on its way to snatching the coveted Men’s Open crown.
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