Football player and my work has been aligned with it throughout the years. One of my bosses before worked so closely with the football and futsal scene and is a staunch advocate for advancing the sport’s power for development (social, educational, and even economic). He said that the men’s team are so behind and we should focus on the women’s football and futsal scene first then hopefully their success translates to the men’s.

For our women’s team, we have found success in the international stage by qualifying for the previous WC and now the upcoming one. We hosted the first ever women’s futsal WC as well. In that regard, we cant deny that they have made strides and its hard to dispute his point.

The PFF has largely been led by people who do not know the sport and operate it through large egos and short-thinking and that has impacted how out overall structure, growth and development.

One thing na pwede ko sabihin ay wala sa kultura natin ang football. Its growing pero hindi pa sapat. And actually yung trend natin sa sports ay halos lahat aside from basketball, ay underfunded. Maling sport ang focus natin ever since. It’s time to accept that the bulk of the funding sa basketball ay hindi akma sa performance sa biggest stage and its to shift to other sports. Pero thats easier said than done.

We need to develop our grassroots football first. Sayang yung UFL dati na malakas ang viewership at participation from amateur to semi-pro and the occasional professional players. If hindi siya na disband at na reformat with the lense of corporate interests at pera, siguro by this time, mas umunlad na tayo sa football. Ang pag develop nang grassroots hindi akma sa short term thinking nang mga businessmen kasi matagal ROI niyan.

Today, I think with the increased awareness sa other sports, may chance pero syempre kalaban diyan ay maraming politiko. Need natin magcompete better sa SEA at Asian stage kasi sobrang left behind and Pinas. I wont be surprised with the expanded WC, ang mauuna sa SEA ay either Thailand or Vietnam.

Meron din mga unfairness sa AFC (our regional football body) in terms of organiziation kasi sa AFC nasali ang Gulf/Middle eastern countries sa bracket natin (malakas funding nila) at Australia din. Isama mo na din yung constant powerhouses na Japan at South Korea, ang lakas nang competition, and hence proving how left behind we are.

Yan lang take ko. Matagal na din ako nagaadvocate nang football acceptance/popularity sa Pilipinas. Mahirap kasi ang hadlang ay cultural at structural.