Cebu Football Club’s first 11 pose for a group photo. | Photo from CFC Facebook page
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu Football Club (CFC) Gentle Giants will start their Asian Football Confederation (AFC) campaign at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila against Phnom Penh Crown FC of Cambodia on September 21, 2023.
CFC bared its official AFC Group F matches through its social media page on Friday, September 15.
This means that the Gentle Giants will take a break from their Copa Paulino Alcantara campaign of the Philippines Football League (PFL) for a bigger tournament in the AFC.
The Gentle Giants will be playing a total of six matches under Group F in the AFC for the rest of the year.
It can be recalled that CFC, a debutee in the AFC, was drawn under Group F during the official draw of the AFC last August 24 at its headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
It will be a huge challenge for PFL’s second best team as they face the 2022 Cambodian Premier League champions in Phnom Penh Crown FC on September. 21.
After the match, the Gentle Giants will fly to Leumeah, Australia to face the Macarthur FC of New South Wales on October 5.
Macarthur FC is the 2022 Australia Cup champion after defeating Sydney United 58 in the finals.
After facing the Aussie club, CFC will return to the Rizal Memorial Stadium on October 26 to host the 2022 Myanmar National League champions, Shan United.
They will have a rematch against Shan United on November 9 at the Thuwunna Football Stadium in Yangon, Myanmar.
Next, they will head to Phnom Penh as the Phnom Penh Crown FC hosts them for a home match on November 30.
Lastly, the Gentle Giants will wrap up their group stage campaign with a home match against Macarthur FC on December 14 at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
CFC owner Ugur Tasci has been pushing to bring at least one match of their AFC matches at their home turf at the Dynamic Herb-Borromeo Sports Complex in Cebu City.
But CFC’s home turf wasn’t approved by the AFC due to some unmet requirements which makes it unfit to host an AFC match.
Still, Tasci is ready to move mountains to provide his team a ‘real’ home match and to also treat Cebuano football fans an international level football match. / dcb
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