Aboitiz Football Cup

When one talks about Cebu Football, one name will stand out among all others. It’s the tournament that Cebu football clubs never miss. It’s the biggest gathering of football clubs. It’s the longest running football tournament. It’s the tournament that features football players from seven all the way to 50 years old (or older?). It’s the 18th Aboitiz Football Cup and it kicks off today at the Cebu City Sports Center.

It’s that time of the year again when Cebu Football really kicks in. Amidst a calendar that is marked with football competitions almost every weekend of the year, the 18th Aboitiz Football Cup fires off today with a total of 160 teams spread over 16 age groups/divisions, featuring both sexes. I can’t think of a bigger tournament outside of Cebu than the Aboitiz Football Cup. Some weekend football festivals draw over 300 teams but they play on just one day, and play small-sided games whose play-time is much shorter the regular 11-a-side game. The Aboitiz Football Cup will be played every weekend from September to around March 2017 with the standard rules for a regular 11-a-side game. This guarantees what our football players need in order to build a strong football community: a consistent run of regular games playing under the normal rules of the most popular sport in the world. These are the same rules that are applied at the highest level of the sport and under which all players should play. The other factor working for the Aboitiz Football Cup and Cebu Football overall is that we are guaranteed of a deep bench of players hitting the grassroots, as the age groups start from the Under 7 division and goes all the way up to the 45-above young once. The age groups or divisions are Under 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 18, 21, Men’s Open, Ladies Open, 38-above, 45-above, Inter BPO, and Inter Company. A deep foundation is so important to building a house, isn’t it? The more younger kids playing, the better. Note that we’re not out to produce the next Ronaldo or Messi. If we do, then that’s a bonus. We just want to see kids get into sports and grow up as better persons thanks to their exposure to football or sports in general.

My personal wish for expansion is that we raise the bar as far as the grassroots is concerned. I’d like to see more players from the province learn how to play the sport and grow to love football. Remember when the Carmen boys and the Don Bosco Boys Home/SIT boys were the toast of the town in the mid-90s? Remember how Catmon continues to be a volleyball powerhouse? I’d like to see this duplicated in football and programmed to last a lifetime. The Carmen and Don Bosco Boys Home teams reached the highest levels of the sport but didn’t have a continuity program that matched their achievements. We’re hoping that the Don Bosco  Boys Home in Liloan can follow through with what their older brothers did and that more Carmen boys are discovered across Cebu. Just imagine this. If we can duplicate and have more Carmen and Don Bosco/SIT boys established around the province, Cebu would become a youth powerhouse. There is a need to get the province more involved in football through training programs for coaches and raising the level of play among the youth. The coaches can then start up their own programs through the public schools with the help of the Department of Education. The kids will learn the sport, practice and join football tournaments to gain exposure and experience. Before you know it, they’ll be so good that Cebu will have seen a mushrooming of football programs from the north to the south.

My other personal wish is that we have more football fields. Since we lack football venues in the metropolis, this shouldn’t be a major problem outside Metro Cebu. For this year’s Aboitiz Football Cup, the football community is grateful to the Cebu City Sports Center, Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu, Don Bosco Technology Center, PAREF Springdale and San Roque Parish for making their fields available with the disappearance of the Aboitiz Sports Field. If we’re lucky, we might get the chance to try out the world-class (in the making) football field of the University of San Carlos in Talamban. Have you seen pictures of the filed online? The complex isn’t complete for now, but it’s already looking so pretty. Do we still have space for a football field in the city?

Kudos and thanks to the Aboitiz Foundation and AboitizLand for their generous support and for keeping Cebu football alive and definitely kicking. May Cebu football continue to grow and more kids become better people through sports.

It’s kick-off time!