The Philippine Football Federation Suzuki Under-23 Cup kicks off to great fanfare at the University of the Philippines Los Baños campus beginning March 30 with the members of the Philippine men’s national football team as guests.
The tournament, which is sponsored by Suzuki Philippines, will serve as a breeding ground for future members of the Azkals. The team will see action in the coming Southeast Asian Games in Indonesia.
The Under-23 tournament initially brings together 23 squads from Luzon and Mindanao in the first wave of knockout competition before the winners advance to the regionals where teams from the National Capital Region and the Visayas await them.
The top two teams from Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao, and the National Capital Region will be paired into two groups and battle it out in a single-elimination format for a home-and-away semifinal match to determine the finalists. The finals will take place on May 15.
Also gracing the kick off in Laguna will be Suzuki Philippines president Satoshi Uchida, PFF President Mariano V. Araneta and other football officials.
Uchida, who is a huge football fan and was impressed with the Azkals’ performance in the last Suzuki Cup said, “We consider the Suzuki-PFF U-23 Cup as a local adaptation of the AFF Suzuki Cup, aligning the efforts with how Suzuki Motors Corporation, our mother company, supports football in all of Asia. We see this effort in a long-term basis. Expect that we will be continuously supporting football in the Philippines as part of our efforts to help promote Philippine sports, especially now that Suzuki Philippines launched its ASTIG campaign, football seems a very apt representation of that image."
Preceding the opening ceremonies will be a motorcade at 2 p.m. featuring PFF and Suzuki officials as well as the Azkals.
source: gmanews.tv
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