14th Aboitiz Cup kicks off Nov. 19

The 14th Aboitiz Cup, one of the biggest and longest running football tournaments held outside Manila, will unfold on Nov. 19 at the Aboitiz Sportsfield in Subangdaku, Mandaue City.

Tournament director Eleazar Toledo said he couldn’t say what exactly delayed this tournament which normally opens by August except that he had submitted his proposal as early February.

This league-type tournament is organized by the Cebu Football Association (CFA).

This year’s Aboitiz Cup will also feature major changes including the holding of a futsal women’s open at the Metrosports to address the declining number of women entries.

“We found out that it has been difficult for the women to form a team with 11 members except for the University of San Carlos (USC) which is always looking forward to this tournament so we decided to hold a futsal—small sided games for them this year,” Toledo said.

At present only USC have submitted an entry for the women’s open.

Two new categories have also been added—the boys 19 (B19) and Under 23 (U23). Both will serve as talent identification and preparation for the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) U23 Suzuki Cup and the PFF Smart Club Championships.

Also, the men’s open will no longer have two divisions unlike last year.

Cebu Queen City United (CQCU) head coach Mario Ceniza said they will be fielding two teams for this category as part of their preparation for competitions in the United Football League (UFL).

Aside from that, a boys-6 category will be held to be played in a 5-aside format.

Toledo also said that this year, there would be no limit in the number of teams per category.

Other categories are boys 8, 10, 12 and 14 and girls 12 and 17.