Puma street soccer a boost to RP football

Football, the world’s No. 1 sport, gets a big boost again in the Philippines with the holding of the Puma Football Festival June 1-3 at the Glorietta Activity Center.

The Puma Football Festival, staged by PUMA and IMG, is a three-day event that promotes the exciting game of football through fun games, clinics, an exhibition match by the national women’s team and a four-on-four street soccer tournament.

Unlike plain soccer, "street" soccer is played by four players-a-side instead of 11 and uses a smaller playing area. The game originated in the backyards and hidden alleys in the main football cities of the world –Rio de Janeiro, Amsterdam, Paris and London and has taken the world by storm. In the Philippines, PUMA has been organizing street soccer tournaments since 1997 and the winners represented the country in the international competition.

"Puma has always been an avid supporter of football, not only worldwide but also here in the Philippines, and will continue to do so in the years to come," said Anton Gonzalez, president of Planet Sports Inc., distributor of Puma products in the Philippines during the press launch at the National Sports Grill.

Also present during the press conference were Sameer Prasad, Planet Sports Inc. managing consultant, Riza De Dios-Torres, division manager of Planet Sports Inc., Bhitzie Baquiran, marketing manager of Planet Sports Inc. as well as noted sports officials led by Philippine Football Federation president Rene Adad, Mike Villadolid, Philippine Football Federation general secretary and Noel Tolentino, head of the PFF competitions committee.

The Puma Invitational Street Soccer, the main event of the festival, is open to players under 15 years of age, with seven players to comprise each team. Fourteen teams – (Rizal province, Masbate, Laguna, Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Camarines Norte, Ateneo, Japanese School, Mendiola Football Club-San Beda, Xavier Football School, La Salle Greenhills and La Salle—Zobel) — had been invited to compete in the tournament.