Velarde comes to Azkals' rescue

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine Football Federation president Mariano “Nonong” Araneta said Tuesday that El Shaddai leader Bro. Mike Velarde has already agreed in principle to donate the 4.5 hectares of prime land in Parañaque City for the purpose of constructing a new football pitch under a FIFA grant.

“He (Velarde) has agreed in principle,” said Araneta, adding that the charismatic leader only wants to revise some finer details in Memorandum of Agreement.

Araneta said the MOA, crafted by the Fifa officials two weeks ago, has been delivered back to Azkals’ team manager Dan Palami on Monday for revision.

The construction of the pitch will be made possible through Goal Project 2 of the FIFA, which will give the Philippines a $500,000 grant (about P21.7 million).

Under the contract, Velarde will allow the PFF to use a parcel of land – located within one of the subdivisions developed by Velarde’s company, Anvel – for free for at least 25 years.

Araneta said the MOA is expected to be finalized in the coming weeks, and it will be submitted to the FIFA for the Feb. 28 meeting on Goal Project proposals.

“It will only take six months to finish the construction of the field,” said Araneta, noting that it will be FIFA which will decide on the design of the pitch.

The football pitch, for some period of time, will exclusively be used by the Azkals, who are preparing for their rematch with Mongolia for the AFC Challenge Cup qualifying match in the cold Ulan Bator on March 15.

The Philippines is just one of the bevy of countries seeking FIFA’s help for the construction of a football field.

Mongolia, through Goal Projects I and II, has already built an artificial pitch and an academic complex in Ulan Bator. Mongolia President Tsakhia Elbegdorj even visited FIFA headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland on Jan. 26 to thank FIFA president Joseph Blatter.

Should the construction of artificial pitch pushes through, it will help sustain the gains achieved by the Azkals, German coach Michael Weiss said recently.

“Apart from the Azkals, we have to have many pitches in the country because many young Filipinos want to play football,” Weiss said. “And we have to give them the opportunity to do it,” Weiss, 43, said. “In Manila, I think we only have one or two artificial pitches and I think it’s not enough for a city that has 10 million people.”

source: mb.com.ph