349 teams to vie in Thirsty football

As the pioneer of football festival in Cebu, the 10th Thirsty Football Festival this weekend promises to be another big event with about 3,000 football players, including some members of the Philippine Azkals and the Little Azkals, seeing action.

During a press conference yesterday at the Outpost, Bunny Pages, the chairman and CEO of Pages Holdings, Inc. which owns Thirsty Juices and Shakes, said this year’s edition of the tournament gathered a record number of participants with 349 teams.

Chad Songalia, one of the organizers, said that because of the increased number of participants, they have decided to hold the games in two venues—Cebu City Sports Center (CCSC) and at the Don Bosco Technology Center (DBTC) in Punta Princesa.

Another record for the three-day football festival is the number of out-of-town entries with teams coming from Zamboanga, Tacloban, Bohol, Dumaguete, Masbate, Cagayan de Oro, Bacolod, Leyte, Davao, Dipolog and Bukidnon, according to Neil Montesclaros, one of the tournament organizers.

Through the years, Thirsty football event has also maintained its legacy of being objective and fair with the support and cooperation of the Cebu Football Association (CFA), said Montesclaros.

Pages said that it has always been their pleasure and honor to host this event and that it is their family and company’s thrust of promoting good health and exercise.

This year, also supporting the event are PLDT and Puma. PLDT will make the CCSC a wifi zone for the duration of the tournament while Puma is the official sponsor of balls used in the tournament.

CFA vice president Rico Navarro said the local governing body’s support will always be there for Thirsty football, which has managed to establish itself as a premier football festival in Cebu.

This Friday, the tournament will start at 5:30 p.m. and will run until 12 a.m. at the CCSC. Categories to be played are Girls 19 and 14, Boys 19 and 42 Above.

On Saturday, categories to be played at the CCSC are Boys 14 and 17, and Players 10 while at the DBTC are Players 8 and 6, Boys 12, Girls 17 and 36 Above, as well as some of the elimination matches of the Men’s Open.

Games will start at 7:30 a.m. in both venues. However, games will end at 9 p.m. at the DBTC and 11 p.m. at the CCSC.

On Sunday, all matches of the Women and Men’s Open will be held at the CCSC with matches to start at 7:30 a.m. until 9:30 p.m.

The Men’s Open has gathered the most number of participants at 77 while among the age-group categories, the Boys 12 has gathered the most number of participants at 44.