Football plays second fiddle to basketball nowadays in the Philippines, but there was a time when football ruled the roost. Not only did the Philippines win the 1st ever Asian football tournament(1913 Far Eastern Games which was the precursor of the Asian Games pre WW II) but also had the 2nd best overall record in football in all the succeeding editions of the Far Eastern Games including dealing Japan their worst loss (15-2) in their football history. As late as the 1934 Far Eastern Games(held in Manila), the national football team attracted more crowds(about 40000) than basketball. Prior to WWII, many Filipino players(especially those with Spanish heritage) were already finding their way to Spanish leagues like FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. Here is an article detailing the popularity of the sport during that time. http://web.archive.org/web/20070819084954/http://www.philfootball.info/memorable.html The controversial 1934 Philippines-China football setto The year was 1934, Philippine sports was celebrating a first. Representatives of four leading Asian nations at the time - China, Japan, Indonesia(then called the Dutch East Indies) and the Philippines - gathered in Manila. The red-letter occasion was the inauguration of the sports complex on Vito Cruz and Dakota, Malate, now known as the Rizal Memorial Stadium. It was also a Far Eastern Olympic Games year and the center of activities was the track-football stadium, the biggest of the five play sites at Rizal. The others are: the Coliseum, the tennis courts, the swimming stadium and the baseball stadium. They spread the games at the different facilities, but the crowd was thickest at the track-football stadium which seats from 40,000 to 50,000. It was the scene of the glamour games of the era - track and field and football. And playing for the Philippines in 1934 Far Eastern Olympic Meet was one of the best football teams ever assembled. It was some football team and more! when football was the glamour sport of the country. ___ There are many reasons why basketball(which was considered a more attractive fast paced sport) eventually took over the hearts of Filipino sports fans, but it was mostly due to the sustained success of the Philippine basketball teams internationally, consistently representing Asia and doing well(as high as 3rd in the 1954 FIBA World Championships winning the bronze and 5th in the 1934 Olympics) in world tournaments (prior to the formation of the pro PBA league in the 1970's, which resulted in players losing their amateur status and becoming ineligible for international tournaments), as well the formation of a fully professionally and successful basketball league, which led to football eventually fading from the Philippine sports consciousness. Here are comments from oldtimers from the era I found at the same website: "Pre-war teams had many fine athletes and the average athlete of that age gravitated towards football." He said that immediately after the war it was apparent that basketball was taking over where before very few people wanted to watch basketball." The good news today is that football is finally making a comeback with the Azkals leading the resurgence of interest in the sport since 2001. Although still a long ways to go in attracting the same type of crowds seen back in 1934, it is encouraging that as the Azkals have become more and more successful, it has led to a small but growing interest in the sport, both in terms of participation as well as in the number of spectators during international football events. The advent of a professional league like the UFL within the past few years, has also allowed local players to develop their skills and continue their football careers after college, which has helped the local clubs compete internationally in international tournaments like the AFC President's Cup and the AFC Cup.
Correction on the above post on the last paragraph. The resurgence of interest in the Philippines started in 2010 when the Philippines made the semifinals of the Suzuki Cup)not in 2001.
The first Asian to play in Europe is Filipino Manuel Amechazurra. Here is an email one of his descendants sent to one of our news publications: An earlier Azkal! Then I got this e-mail from Jonah Amechazurra, a great-grandnephew of another Filipino football player of yore, “I read your article in STAR, and it was great but there are some flaws and is kind of misleading. To set the record straight, Paulino Alcántara Riestrá was not the first Filipino to play in Europe. Manuel Amechazurra was the first Filipino who joined the Football Club Barcelona from 1905 to 1915. FC Barcelona also won The Pyrenees Cup four times, from 1910-1913, with him. The Pyrenees Cup is the first football international in Europe. But the tournament stopped due to the beginning of World War 1 in 1914. It’s sad because our bisabuelo(great grandfather) is not recognized here in the Philippines despite the fact that he brought so much glory to the country. “Manuel Amechazurra was born in Bacolod City, Philippines. He was called el capitán and played as a defender (compared to striker position that Paulino Alcantara played). “Manuel Amechazurra had a Basque bloodline. The clan’s roots came from the Basque region of Spain. Cheers and God bless. Embrace the love and more power to our very own Futbol Filipinas.” https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Amechazurra_Guazo __ He also played in England and apparently brought some of the techniques he learned there to FC Barcelona. He is considered FC Barcelona's first professional player. http://cathonys.blogspot.com/2009/06/cap_18.html The reason he is not remembered in the Philippines is he never played for the Philippine national football team after going to Spain. Filipino great Paulino Alcantara, who held the most record for goals in all competitions for FC Barcelona before Leo Messi broke it a year ago, on the other hand is recognized because he came back to the Philippines to continue his medical studies while playing and winning 2 Philippine club championships for multi-titled local team Bohemian Sporting Club, as well as for the Philippine national football team in the Far Eastern Games football tournament. Paulino still holds the record for the youngest player to score a goal for FC Barcelona which he accomplished at the age of 15 y/o. http://www.insidespanishfootball.co...-the-highest-goalscorer-in-barcelona-history/
In 2007 FIFA named Paulino Alcantara the best Asian player of all time. Photo: Messi puts on Paulino Alcantara's jersey Messi puts on shirt used in the time of Barcelona’s previous topscorer Paulino Alcantara after beating his record in the game against Osasuna! www.101greatgoals.com/blog/lionel-messi-wears-paulino-alcantaras-vintage-barcelona-shirt-as-mark-of-respect-after-beating-scoring-record/
The football/soccer is having an enormous growing of popularity in USA, China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Philippine, Cuba, Panama, Venezuela, Australia, New Zeland etc
Volleyball has grown so much in the past few years, that according to a recent study(AC Nielsen) it is now second only to basketball in popularity as a team sport in the Philippines, with football falling behind at 3rd. The fact that volleyball has been able to attract attractive world class female athletes from Europe, North and South America to play professionally in domestic leagues(at both indoor and beach volleyball events) alongside their local counterparts, has helped improved the sport's popularity by using sex appeal as a marketing tool. Men's volleyball have even ridden on the coattails of the distaff side's popularity by finally setting up their own league recently. http://sports.inquirer.net/203073/national-league-will-foster-football-following#ixzz3wnIM9RlV Football, which is primarily a mens sport at the professional level, has been growing slowly in popularity but not as fast as the other 2 sports(basketball and volleyball). The findings of the study recommends the setting up of a national football league to help market and improve the popularity of football nationwide.
It's strange that the US and Japan with all of their development don't perform better at the FIFA World Cup.
Interesting info. It is quite pathetic when a football mad country like Iran are less successful than the top 3 nations where people play various sports. Australians enjoy Australian football, cricket and rugby. Japanese enjoy baseball and rugby. Koreans enjoy baseball.
It seems that the Ceres-Selangor match in the Philippines had one of the better attendances of the 1st day of the group stage of the 2016 AFC Cup with 8,000 in attendance and the best in the East Zone. Tampine Rovers(Singapore) only had 2,300 and Kitchee(HK) approximately 2000. Because of the early start New Radiant(Maldives) was only able to attract 900 fans. Great show of support from the Ceres fans!
What are the prices like for games in Iran? Prices aren't that cheap in Australia for games (although the AFL have free tickets for kids on Saturday, and the A-League run promotions over school holidays for free kid tickets). Australia sits in the top 20 for GDP per capita in the world, whereas Iran are down around 70th ... so disposable incomes may account for the differences too. In Australia the football is run during our summer, so doesn't directly compete against the AFL or NRL (both winter sports). However it does compete against the Big Bash League, but only for about a month (during school holidays).
Despite fans getting soaked by a thunderstorm, Ceres Lasalle(Philippines) again had the best attendance among all East Zone AFC squads in the AFC Cup with 6,400 ahead of traditionally football fan friendly countries like Selangor(Malaysia) with 2,847, Balestier Khalsa(Singapore) with 1,143 and New Radiant(Maldives) with 950 on the same day. Most of the fans in Singapore were actually cheering for the away team Kaya FC from the Philippines, if you listen to their loud cheering and the videos, so Kaya FC felt like they were playing at home.
Only older people care about Sumo. But you are right, the media do everything to put down football. And powerful people like politicians and rich businessmen prefer baseball to football. Being a football fan in Japan is a tough life.
Comment by a Filipino writer "Two years ago, The Philippines didn't even have a representative in the @AFCCup, but now the country has 2 clubs on top of their groups"
you missed out darul takzim fc i think. They have solid attendances through out both Malaysian league & afc cup. 14,210 average attendance in afc cup & 21,228 avg attendance in MSL this season. but yeah, football surely their 1st popular sports although their national team sucks af.
True although that was the following match day. My quote would only be specifice for the day in question on Tuesday. Ceres so far has been averaging 7200 in the AFC Cup, numbers you would normally expect from a basketball game in the Philippines, not football.
Some maps have kickboxing as the most popular sport in Cambodia and Laos (I think this map I linked to got the U.S. -- plus a few other countries -- wrong since American football is pretty much #1 in every U.S. state). Although the above map has volleyball as Cambodia's #1 sport, I think they're referring to a sport that's similar to volleyball and a popular participation sport with locals. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sepak_takraw That being said, I have a hunch that football is Cambodia's #1 spectator sport. They drew some of the largest home crowds in Asia for the most recent round of World Cup qualifying: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification_–_AFC_Second_Round Cambodia-Singapore (11 June 2015): 63,000 Cambodia-Afghanistan (16 June 2015): 55,000 Cambodia-Syria (8 Sep 2015): 35,000 Cambodia-Japan (17 Nov 2015): 29,871
If anybody is wondering the gravity of the uphill battle that football has to overcome in the Philippines in their fight to catch up with basketball, here are more sobering news to read about: NBA PHILIPPINES has opened an office on local shores with a goal of expanding its presece in the robust Philippine market. NBA Philippines managing director Carlo Singson said the opening of a league office in Manila will allow for a more dedicated look at a rapidly growing market where the NBA has the largest number of followers on Facebook (5.1 million) outside the United States. “We want to help expand NBA’s global mission, which is to celebrate the game of basketball being the best sport in the world in our opinion. The Philippines is an amazing basketball market so we felt it’s time to open an office here,” said Singson, who has been working for the NBA the past 18 years. NBA Philippines also has a grassroots basketball development program in the a Jr. NBA and Jr. WNBA, now on its ninth year. “We want to give back to this country which has supported NBA basketball for so long,” Singson said. NBA Asia welcomed the opening of the league's Philippine office, located in the Bonifacio Global City area in Taguig City. “Opening an office in the Philippines is the next step in our efforts to grow basketball and the NBA’s popularity throughout Asia,” said NBA Asia managing director Scott Levy. “The fandom that exists in the Philippines presents an ideal opportunity to grow the game that we hope to replicate throughout the region.” Read more at http://www.spin.ph/basketball/nba/n...ice-opening-carlo-singson#RUivdAgIRB14jQye.99 The NBA is also aiming to popularize the sport in the rest of Asia.
Sepaktakraw is a popular participation sport in SEA originating in the region, although falling far behind football(for most of SEA) and basketball(Philippines) as a spectator sport. It is part of the sports curriculum of most of these countries at the elementary and secondary level and like football involves use of the feet, head, chest and shoulders. Even the Philippines which prefers the hand dominated sport of basketball has a strong sepaktakraw program because of its long centuries old tradition in the former national team sport of sipa(arnis/kali/eskrima martial arts has now taken on the national sport mantle since 2009) which is related to sepaktakraw. It is increasing in popularity worldwide with official organizations scheduling tournaments all over the world and is now a regular sporting event in the SEA and Asian Games. Hopefully it becomes part of the Olympic Games in the future.
Fifa’s Mike Pfister said the Philippines should take advantage of the momentum that the popularity of football has gained in the country. He added that it’s time to put more focus on the countryside instead of just putting emphasis on just development of the sport in Manila. YOUTH development is one of the main focuses of the Philippine football in the coming years and to spread the popularity of football to the different regions and not just in Manila, a Fifa representative said. “You need more football clubs that have youth players playing regularly in a league. This is how you produce players. This will make sure that a new generation of players are ready,” said Mike Pfister, Fifa’s Senior Development Manager of the Member Associations & Development Division, after the Fifa Organizational Review/Leadership Retreat last Saturday at the Shangri-la Mactan Resort and Spa in Lapu-Lapu City. Pfister said that the aim is to spread the popularity of football to different regions, and not just center it all in Manila. “We just spent the past week discussing elements of football in the Philippines. It’s not just what happens in the pitch, what happens outside of it is also a factor,” he said “We are assisting Philippine Football Federation (PFF) on its strategic plans in terms of technical assistance, looking for ways to improve facilities and infrastructures,” said Pfister. Pfister said that part of the plan is to work better in the regional associations, because football is developed in the provinces and in the regions of the country. Pfister said that compared to 2012, there is an improvement in Philippine football and the focus now is to continue its improvement and growth nationwide. “The foundation has been laid, the governance framework is in place, the organization is stable and the national team has improved,” he said. “Compared to five years ago, the Philippines has come very far. I think two big challenges is to keep the momentum of the popularity of the sport going.” In 2010, the Philippines was ranked 149th in the world. Now, the country is currently rated 120th and went up as high as 115th. Pfister said that it doesn’t matter if football is not the most popular or the second most popular sport in the country. What is more important is to raise a sporting culture of football in the country. He said that to improve the sport, there must be a regular league to be played regularly, and the country is not there yet. “The one thing about football, the room is not built overnight, there is no shortcut to developing sport. It takes a lot of hard work with the youth, grassroots, to get schools to cooperate. There will be a lot of sweat and tears. It must be a continued effort and it will take decades,” said Pfister. Pfister said that the country has competent people but what is lacking is the number. “You have the competent people, but you need a lot more of numbers of instructors. If you compare a football instructor from the Philippines from some of the bigger football nations in Asia, there is a big gap. And again, that is a snapshot of today, but if you look years back, the numbers is a little bit lower in the country,” he said. http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/sports/2016/06/20/include-provinces-too-480442 The Philippine Football Federation (PFF), which has been under the administration of Mariano “Nonong” Araneta for the past 5 years, underwent an assessment by FIFA representatives who have gathered in Cebu last weekend along with a representative from the Asian Football Confederation for the FIFA Organizational Review/Leadership Retreat this Saturday, June 18. FIFA, which had helped craft the new administration of the PFF, is now back to review the their progress as well as help plan its direction for the next 4 years based on the assessment. According to Araneta, over the past 5 years, the PFF has achieved a lot in terms of coaching structure as they now have more A, B and C licensed coaches. However, for Araneta, the biggest achievement of his administration's last term is taking steps to make the PFF’s governance transparent, which has earned the trust of sponsors. “I think we have brought football to the perception of being transparent, as far as good governance is concerned. Making the football governance more transparent is very important so that the sponsors will see that we are really doing our best,” said Araneta. “Because of the transparency, people are contributing more, FIFA comes here, teams have improved internationally and locally,” added Araneta. Also, from an annual $250,000 funding from FIFA, this will now be increased to $1.250 million, which Araneta said a part will be used as a seed funding for the youth development, which he admits lacks development unlike the national team, which has flourished in recent years under Coach Thomas Dooley. The increased FIFA funding will go to boosting development of the sport. The previous amount saw 15 percent go to women's football, international and local competitions each, plus technical training such as coaching and refereeing courses. The PFF president said that in today’s review, he will suggest to the FIFA representatives that the PFF would now like to focus in youth development, “We have the grassroots but our youth development is dependent on DepEd, so I’d like to discuss with them about harnessing grassroots material to develop into the youth.” Araneta said that aside from the FIFA funding, they also hoped to encourage sponsors to invest in the youth development. Aside from the focus on youth development, Araneta said that they would also be discussing with the FIFA representatives the formation of a National League which will be community-based and which they hope to introduce by next year. The FIFA representatives in the Philippines to conduct the review are Kenneth Macleod, Kevan Pipe, Domeka Garamendi, Mike Pfister and Jochen Figge while the lone AFC representative is Sonam Jigmi. http://www.rappler.com/sports/by-sport/football/136845-fifa-review-pff-cebu
20 June 2016 FIFA gives high mark but hurls challenge to PFF CEBU, Philippines - The Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) has given the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) a high mark of eight in a scale of 10 being the highest. FIFA senior development manager Mike Pfister clarified that the rating is mainly on PFF's governance. "What people mostly underestimate is the complexity of football. It's not what only happens in the pitch,but also off the pitch,' said Pfister in an interview at Shangri-la's Mactan Resort and Spa in Lapu-Lapu City yesterday. "FIFA in 2012 did a strategic review of the PFF, to give some concrete steps, actions to follow in a couple of years and actually a lot of those things recommended were implemented," said Pfister. In details, Pfister said a lot has been done with governance and the technical structure in place. The performance of the national team has also improved as against how it was five years ago. "You have to look at where it came from. Look at it five years ago, I think you've (PFF) gone very, very far," added Pfister. The challenge now for PFF, said Pfister, is how to sustain the momentum of popularity of football in the country and the establishment of a nationwide league. "We know football is not the no.1 sports in the Philippines. It's not being no.1, no.2 or pushing other sports out, but its just raising the sporting culture within the culture," Pfister said. To make it more popular at the same time have more potential players for the national team, PFF needs to put up a regular league not only for a few clubs that concentrated in Manila, but for all provinces and regions. "The league has to be played all over the country and regularly. Around eight to nine months. The Philippines is not there yet," said Pfister. In doing so, FIFA will assist PFF in coming up with an elaborate strategic plans covering all areas as well as provide technical assistance and in looking for ways for all regions to cooperate. There is no shortcut to developing football, it takes a lot of hardwork that PFF needs to push further. "Football, at the end of the day, is not developed on an ivory tower of a federation, but it is developed in the provinces, in the regions," said Pfister.— (FREEMAN) http://www.philstar.com/cebu-sports/2016/06/20/1594649/fifa-gives-high-mark-hurls-challenge-pff