PSC to scout Pinoy football talents in Spain

MANILA, Philippines - Looking to take advantage of an existing bilateral agreement on sports cooperation with Spain, the Philippines will explore the possibility of scouting for Fil-Spanish athletes who could don the Phl colors in future competitions like the coming Southeast Asian Games.

The Philippine Sports Commission and the High Council for Sports in Madrid are in the process of working out the details as they begin implementing the pact that Phl and the European powerhouse signed last year.

There already is a standing invitation to send a Filipino technical delegate to Spain in March towards this end, according to a PSC executive.

“Chairman (Richie Garcia) will also take the opportunity to meet with the  Filipino community in Spain, through the Phl embassy, to look for Spanish with Filipino bloodline who can play for the Phl,” said the official.

Spain is a known superpower in football, where it is the reigning Fifa World Cup champion and top-ranked nation in the world, and basketball, where it previously won a world title (2006) and finished second to the superstar-filled USA team in the last London Olympics.

The Azkals already utilize Fil-Spanish players in brothers Angel and Juani Guirado and Carly de Murga, largely due to the good relations of the Philippine Football Federation with its counterpart and clubs in Spain. The PFF is recruiting another Fil-Spanish, Cordoba striker Javier Patino, for the Azkals’ next campaign.

Apart from the pact with Spain, the Phl also looks to make the most out of its memorandum of understanding with China. 

Garcia recently met with the Cultural Counselor of the Chinese Embassy to the Phl, Pan Feng, to get the ball rolling for the planned training stints of Pinoy bets in China that could last up to 10 months.

Feng is also arranging for the visit of Yao Ming’s Shanghai Sharks team to play exhibition matches with the Gilas national team and/or PBA squads.

Similar sports agreements with Brazil and Germany, among others, are in the pipeline.

Brazil, the host country of the 2016 Olympics, has invited the PSC to a meeting to discuss sports cooperation, especially involving the grassroots.

Germany’s Foreign Office and the Department of Foreign Affairs are also finalizing an agreement. This will widen the scope on the existing partnership between the PFF and the German Football Federation with regards to the latter’s support for grassroots development in the Philippines.