Sinulog Football Festival unfolds

The fourth Sinulog Football Festival which will start Saturday, will serve as a dry-run for Cebu Football Association’s (CFA) full implementation of FIFA standard rules and regulations which will be used in all football tournaments in Cebu.
The two-day event which will be held at the Aboitiz Sports Field and San Roque Football field, attracted 168 teams featuring rival schools and commercial teams in Cebu.
According to Rico Navarro, board member of CFA during yesterday’s launching at the Casino Español de Cebu, the CFA with the help of local accredited football coaches agreed to fully implement FIFA’s standard rules to prevent confusion among teams, players and even parents.
“We hope that our effort to implement these rules will be fully implemented before 2015. We really wanted this to happen because we want to set a standard in each football tournament here in Cebu kay kana man gud different rules nga ipang implement in different tournaments don’t just create confusion, majority sa mga gubot mahitabo sa mga duwa related ani nga errors,” Navarro said.
Navarro added that different tournaments here use different rules which, more often that not, create problems.
“I think it’s the perfect time that CFA will implement this although it’s already implemented in several tournaments last year like the ongoing Aboitiz Football Cup,” Navarro said.
The 4th Sinulog Football Festival will also re-assess the need to rehabilitate the San Roque Football field which will be backed by the CFA.
Meanwhile, the Under-18 division is expected to steal majority of the tournament’s spotlight since it is where four of Cebu’s top junior football teams namely the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (SHS-AdC), Don Bosco Technology Center (DBTC), PAREF-Springdale and Abellana National School (ANS) Pomeroy are competing.
Aside from the four, Leylam FC will also join the tightly contested division while the under-18 girls top contending teams include the San Roque Football Club (SRFC), Saint Theresa’s College (STC) and SHS-AdC. DBTC, SHS-AdC, University of San Carlos (USC) and PAREF Springdale are the top contenders in the under-13 division.
Games today at the Aboitiz Sports Field will be those for U7 Mixed, U9 Mixed, U11 Mixed, U15 Girls, and U18 Girls. Over at the San Roque Parish Field will be the games for U18 Boys, U15 Boys, and U13 Boys.
Games will start at 7:30 a.m. on both venues on both days.
On Sunday, the Aboitiz Sports Field will host the Men’s Open with 25 teams competing while the San Roque Parish Field will host the Inter-BPO, Inter-Company, ladies Open, and the 38 and above category.
Super Metro is the Sinulog Cup’s biggest sponsor this year.