Growing Football At The Grassroots Challenges The Philippines

Despite the large amount of success the PFL has been seeing, the same does not go for the youth development in the Philippines.

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A lot of good things are happening within Philippine clubs and national teams football. Ceres Negros FC, in particular, was recently crowned the 2017 AFC Cup Zonal champion.

Despite all the good things at the top level, grassroots football development needs some serious attention–a successful football nation is always built from the bottom up.

ccording to PFF general secretary Atty. Edwin Gastanes, “Grassroots football has always been an integral part of football development in the Philippines, PFF is here to ensure that we continue to introduce the sport to young Filipinos and develop players from the grassroots level.”

There is no doubt the Philippines Football Federation is keeping its words in this regards, but more grassroots program are still needed all over the Philippines.

Today in my show D-QASM, I feature Mark L. Ceballos as he talks about a one of a kind grassroots football project in Kidapawan City, North Cotabato

Kidapawan City in the Philippines is the capital city of the Cotabato Province that is located at the foot of Mount Apo. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 140,195 people. It is a popular destination for tourists from late October to December, and in the summer.

In this city, there was a Metro Kidapawan Football Club founded in March 2016.

Moving around Metro Manila, I have seen a lot of private football academies promoting grassroots football programs–but Metro Kidapawan Football Club is different and unique.

This club is a community-owned football club that was formed by parents in the city.

Duing the interview in the show, the clubs vice president Mark L. Ceballos answered my quick questions about their program.

Q: Why was the club formed?

A: At first, the club was formed to develop our kids, but now we want to help every kid to make football part of their life style. We want to also help the potential kid to develop this sport and make it as one of their tools to pursue a college education in years to come.

Q: Who are the leaders in this club?

A: Dr. Bryant C. Martinez is the president while I’m the vice president.

Q: Where do your players come from?

A: Right now most players are coming from Notre Dame of Kidapawan College Integrated Basic Education (NDKC-IBED)

Q: How much do you charge players?

A: We charge players one-time membership fee which is Php150.00, but those that could not afford are accepted for free.

Q:You are training players for free, where do you get money to fund the club?

A:We ask for support from Local Government Unit, and some businessmen here in our place. Right now we are looking for some one who could support and sponsor us for a long term.

Q: How do you spend your money?

A: We use it to register for festivals we have been joining. We mostly played in Davao city because it takes us 2 hours to travel by land to Davao.

Last year, our U11 and U12 teams participated in the Alaska Cup in Manila and our U12 made it to the quarter final but were knocked out by Ateneo De Manila.

Q: Are there great talents in your program?

A: Yes, we have notable players right now in U13, U12, and U10.