By Michael Angelo S. Murillo, Reporter
IN line with its commitment to further develop the sport of football in the country, governing body Philippine Football Federation (PFF) launched last week the “MY PFF” Football Registration Program.
An online football registry, proponents of MY PFF touts it as the next step to building on the gains the sport has made in the last decade or so while also ensuring that the football community in the Philippines is fostered moving forward.
“This is just another step to further develop our sport by ensuring that the federation is able to connect with all members of the football community. This program was developed to register the estimated 1.7 million football participants not limited to players, coaches, referees, and officials, so the federation will have vital data at hand to develop a long-term strategy for all activities starting from the grassroots and upwards,” said PFF President Mariano Araneta in explaining the rationale behind the setting up of MY PFF.
The PFF said that starting today, the program will be embedded into the PFF Web site for easy access and registration.
To register, an applicant just goes to the PFF Web site www.pff.org.ph and clicks on the link for “MY PFF” and follows the simple instructions.
Applicants are required to upload a copy of the passport or a copy of his/her birth certificate and make payment via Dragonpay, which allows for cash deposits or the use of a credit card online.
“MY PFF will be a mandatory membership registration for all football stakeholders, with the exception of the fans of course,” said PFF General Secretary Edwin B. Gastanes, who led the formal launch last Thursday of MY PFF at the Century Park Hotel.
“All players, coaches, referees, football officials are required to register between today until the end of the year in order to be eligible to participate in various PFF-sanctioned activities such as leagues, tournaments, festivals etc. beginning 2018,” he added.
My PFF was developed in partnership with software developer RSportz and the marketing arm MMC Sportz Asia.
It is in accordance with the mandate of world governing body FIFA and will be fully administered by the PFF.
The program features different membership categories related to the different football activities including players from grassroots (6-12 years old); youth (13-17 years); juniors (18-23 years) and seniors (over 23 years).
Other categories were also created to register the professional players, referees, coaches, other football officials, and even the fans.
The annual membership fees start from as low as P100 for grassroots players up to P2,000 for professional players.
“Each member will receive a personalized membership card. The fee structure, which has been approved by the PFF board has been carefully designed to encourage registrations on all levels,” said Mr. Gastanes, adding additional benefits will be announced in the future.
For Philippine national men’s football team coach Thomas Dooley, who was among the early registrants for MY PFF, the new program should go a long way in strengthening the camaraderie of football stakeholders in the country for the greater good of the sport.
“This is a great initiative as it creates a feeling of belonging especially for the players and fans while at the same time the federation will be in a better position to manage and administer the football community once all have registered,” Mr. Dooley said.
PFL SATURDAY FIXTURES RESULTS
Meanwhile in the Philippines Football League (PFL) on Saturday, FC Meralco Manila regained the league top spot by beating Ilocos United FC, 1-0, just as Ceres-Negros FC flexed its muscle and stamped its class on Stallion Laguna FC, 5-2.
Phil Younghusband scored the lone goal of the match for the Sparks in the 54th minute to tow Meralco back to the top of PFL standings with a record of 6-2-0 and 20 points in eight games, up two points, as of this writing, over second-running JPV Marikina FC (6-0-2). The loss, meanwhile, added to the woes of Ilocos (0-2-6), which is still winless in the first season of the newly formed national football league.
Now-third place Ceres (4-1-1), for its part, each got a point from Stephan Schrock (131), Jeffrey Christiaens (271), Iain Ramsay (301), OJ Porteria (331) and Bienvenido Maranon (541) to keep Stallion (0-3-5) winless as well in the PFL. — PFF
