Veering away from the traditional “Champions League” format where the champions from Manila, Bacolod, Davao and Cebu, the Philam Vitality 7s KAMPEON Cup will provide a revolutionary format of the competition.
Despite having Ghana FC represent Manila and Villa Angela FC for Bacolod, 7s football league 7s football league founder Anton Del Rosario has opted to find the best players the four cities have to offer.
Starting off with the Maharlika FC who will represent Manila, they’ve made a selection of 10 Filipino players with four foreigners to bolster their squad. The team will be led by ex-Azkals team captain Aly Borromeo.
“For the grassroots level, we need to provide local heroes to be able to inspire the local youth,” said Del Rosario when asked about the reason for the selection process instead of allowing the local champions compete on July 27 to 28.
The 7s football league already saw two players ply their trade in the country’s top-flight league, the Philippines Football League. Hamed Hajimehdi and Roberto “Pafu” Corsame Jr. are now playing with Mendiola FC 1991.
Corsame, who started out with Tondo FC found himself being on the scoresheet for Mendiola FC, is now starting to attract some attention for other prominent clubs playing in the PFL.
It will be an exciting two-day event at the McKinley Hill Stadium as we are about to find out which city has the greatest talents. The event will also see the under-15s play before the main events to showcase the youngest talents our country has to offer.
Not only does Anton wants to bring out the best of the Filipinos in this tournament, but he’s also tying up with Belay Fernando, a former member of the Philippines Women’s National Football Team and a cancer survivor to raise awareness about cancer and raise funds for those who need it the most.
“We started with an idea of having a booth in the 7s Kampeon’s Vitality cup and inviting current athletes and former athletes to donate some jerseys, shoes, whatever they can commit to raise funds,” said Fernando.
This will serve as an avenue for players to be discovered and to help out as well those people who are going through tough times and fighting for their lives.
Talking about the future of the 7’s football league, Del Rosario’s been running around Southeast Asia as well as spreading the word about the possibility of running an international version of the 7’s football league.
Gracing the event was Faezal Murni, Anton Del Rosario’s partner in Brunei, said the league is about to kick-off around September. ” The reason why I decided to partner with Anton is his initiative on how he’s trying to bring this platform. He’s trying to bring it to the regional level,” said Murni regarding the partnership that he has with the former Azkals player.
“I just came back from a trip from Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore which was very positive. It’s looking like we will be able to set up leagues in each of these locations,” said Del Rosario about the possibility of taking the 7’s football league to greater heights.
The penultimate goal of Anton was to come up with the squad that would compete in the Football 7 World Cup. The said tournament is sanctioned by FIF7, world’s governing body in terms of 7-a-side football and it will be held in Rome, Italy on September 2019.
“There is a group that is looking to try and raise funds to be able to send a team. The majority of the players who will be selected for that team would be coming from the 7’s,” said Anton.
If you’re already excited for this event, make sure to follow the Philam Life 7’s Football League facebook page for more information about it and also, Pinoyfootball.com will provide you with the updates about the said tournament.
