Football, or soccer, depending on your location, has been the world’s most-watched sport for over a century, but in the Philippines, this hasn’t been the case.
Basketball and volleyball are the most played and watched team sports here. These sports have established leagues where teams are bankrolled millions of Pesos by big multinational companies. So what does football have to do to possibly experience the same highs as these other sports? This writer has a couple of ideas up his sleeve.
Stop emulating Europe entirely
England is the cradle of soccer, and before you call me out for using the S word, I would just like to reiterate that they came up with that word as well. But just because the sport started there doesn’t mean we have to follow everything they do. The landscape here is vastly different. What works for them might not work for us.
The free-spending model that most English clubs follow will not be sustainable here. Attendance numbers for the local professional leagues are in the hundreds. Games are centralized in almost one city and arena to cut costs. The PFL has a ticket price of ₱150 or around $3, where ₱50 or around $1 will go to your team of choice. This is a great idea as it gives the clubs much-needed income, no matter how small. Football is a business after all.
If we really want to emulate sustainable models, we can look at how Japan, the USA, and Australia run their leagues. The J League runs on a hybrid commercial/community-based model, while the MLS and A-League both have salary caps to curb needless spending and promote parity in the competition. All these countries are regulars in the World Cup. These leagues regularly produce quality players that get bought up by top European clubs. Europe surely has the best players and teams, but they certainly don’t have the best business practices when it comes to running football clubs sustainably. The grass isn’t always greener in Europe, and the next idea is how we can make sure to grow ours here as well.
Make use of our School System
Where do most of the kids in this country gather aside from the streets? The schools. But what do the schools have to do with football then? Well, you see, most children in this country begin to get exposed to organized sports at school. As early as kindergarten, basketball and volleyball become parts of the curriculum for P.E. or Physical Education classes.
I personally got hooked on watching and playing basketball because I got exposed to it at an early age. And I’m sure that’s how most men my age did as well. I got into football at a really late age. I was exposed to the sport by the time I was 15-16, too old to be learning the game if I had aspirations of playing at a high level. I could imagine if I started learning about the sport a little bit earlier, things would have been a lot different.
Now using the school system is not a novel idea. The three aforementioned countries all use the school system to varying degrees. Even England has schoolboys age groups for football. All these aforementioned countries have an extensive system to integrate football with their educational system. The US has the nationwide NCAA system, but the best example I can think of that we can emulate is the Japanese system.
In Japan, they have what is called a dual-track system, where professional club youth training co-exists with the school football system. Aspiring footballers can train football at an early age without forgoing their studies. Most Japanese youth can be signed to a professional team’s youth academy while attending that team’s affiliated high school.
The High School Championships, or more commonly known as the inter-high for Anime fans, is one of the biggest youth tournaments in Japan. Most professional players in the J League played in the inter-high, and it has become a showcase for professional teams to sign outstanding amateurs. Even our very own Daisuke Sato and Pika Minegishi are products of the inter-high. Some Japanese high school players decide to go pro after high school, while others continue on to university, which isn’t a very big step down from the J League’s level.
Now the PFF hasn’t been totally blind to this idea. In the past decade, the PFF has hired numerous Japanese coaches, in association with the JFA, to help grow the game here. Current Japan U15 head coach Reiji Hirata was our Head of Youth Development from 2018-2023, and for sure, he has shared his ideas as well.
The PFF should really look into getting into an agreement with the Department of Education to be able to promote football to our youth. The PFF can help train teachers in the basics of football, or the DepEd can deputize coaches from the PFF to teach football to kids at public schools. The earlier our children are exposed to the sport, the better.
The millions that we can save from marketing can also be spent on this endeavor. Club football in the Philippines will NEVER grow to the heights that we all want if not more kids aspire to be footballers. The reason basketball and volleyball are so popular is that children aspire to be like them. They see these sports as a ticket out of poverty and to a better life. With these steps, we can also remove the stigma that football is a rich man’s sport by making it accessible to all. Football is nowhere near the level of basketball and volleyball, but I believe these steps could be the catalyst for that growth.
Focus on Futsal
The 11-a-side game isn’t the only gateway to football as well. A more exciting and streamlined variation of the game exists in futsal. A game that’s played on a surface roughly the size of our neighborhood multipurpose courts by 5 players on each side and with substitution rules similar to more popular sports like basketball.
My local club Tondo FC comes to mind whenever I think about futsal. This humble football program from the slums in the middle of Manila is living proof that the sport isn’t exclusive for the elite.
The brainchild of Coach Peter Amores and coach Roberto Balbin, Tondo FC started as Futkal or Futbol sa Kalye, where they played a variation of futsal on basketball courts. The program has produced players who played at higher levels like the 7s Football League and the UAAP. Notable players are Dynamic Herb Cebu’s Roberto “Papuh” Corsame Jr. and current Filipinas youth team player Lhei Ycong who currently plays for Paref Woodrose while being scouted by bigger university teams as well.
These kids were able to use football as a springboard towards a better life. It provided them education and in Pafuh’s case, a professional sports career. Tondo FC showed us that football can be a great equalizer in life. Now the program is being helmed by current Manila Montet FC assistant coach Mark Dennis Balbin, and with a little support, the program can produce more Pafuhs and Lheis.
While being able to offer the cavalcade of talents in the collegiate tilts a way to play on is admirable, we must also remember to cast our eyes wider for talent to weave into the tapestry of the league. If One Taguig’s Misagh Bahadoran isn’t proof enough there are talented players outside the confines of 11-a-side pitches, then I don’t know what else you want to do. The former Global FC legend started out as a futsal player before transitioning to the 11-a-side game.
Revert to a semi-pro league to revitalize club football
Now this could be a really controversial take, but hear me out. The professionalism of the PFL has been a roadblock for some players. The top clubs in the PFL have the financial capacity to offer players livable full-time wages. This is great news for sought-after star players coming out of college, but what about those graduating players who aren’t at the level to contribute for a PFL club right away?
Most graduates of the top collegiate leagues here are hesitant to jump into the pros as they don’t see it as a long-term career. The league’s status is still not set in stone. Who knows what the league will be a year or two from now? Reverting back to a semi-pro format could ease some of the worries for these players as they can have a steady day job to supplement their footballing careers financially.
An argument made against making the league semi-pro is that we won’t be able to send teams into continental competitions, but what use is playing in the Champions League if your league doesn’t have the best players playing in it?
Filipinos want to watch the best of the best, and having the best amateur stars jump to the PFL is the way. Having possibly all the best players in the PFL is paramount for its survival.
Football can be great in this country, and hopefully, all the stakeholders take the right steps to realize it by making the appropriate changes from the grassroots all the way to the top leagues. I believe being a top nation in the ASEAN region is an achievable target if everyone is on board with the same vision for Philippine Football.
Engineering Graduate and a long-time Football Fan. Started covering local Football in 2013 after a short career in Football Analytics. Contributed to Pinoyfootball, Fox Sports Asia, and HuddlePH before finding his way here. Has a love-hate relationship with Man Utd and The Portland Timbers. Football Manager fanatic.
Follow @cedsered on X.
