NCAA Vs UAAP In Pre-Season Football Cup

Inspired by its success in organizing the Filoil Flying V Sports Pre-Season Basketball Cup, the men and women behind Filoil Flying V Sports, in cooperation with the top officials of the Independent Philippine Petroleum Companies Association (Ippca), merged forces to hold the the first collegiate pre-season football tournament dubbed as the 2012 Ippca Football Pre-Season Cup.

Bannered by 14 teams coming from both the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and two guest teams in the varsity division, and 12 teams in the juniors side, the brand-new league kicks off on Sunday at the Nuvali pitch in Santa Rosa, Laguna.

The UAAP side will be backstopped by back-to-back champion University of the Philippines, last year’s runner-up University of Santo Tomas and perennial contender Far Eastern University, while the NCAA will parade powerhouse squads, led by San Beda College, which won 10 of the last 11 championships, and last year’s runner-up College of St. Benilde.

Rizal Technological University and University of Makati are also in the mix as they aim to play the spoiler’s role in the monthlong tournament organized by Filoil Flying V Sports and sponsored by Nuvali, Molten, StarSports Korea/Topcoms, Nature’s Spring, Gastropub Bar and Bacchus Energy Drink.

League co-chairman Joey Guillermo told Tuesday’s Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum at Shakey’s Malate that the tournament’s main purpose is to prepare the teams for the coming football season of both the UAAP and the NCAA.

“Just like in our basketball league, we also came up with the idea of holding a pre-season football tournament to sharpen the skills of collegiate players,” Guillermo said.

Guillermo said games will be played every Sunday at the Nuvali pitch—but Saturday games are a possibility depending upon the availability of the Nuvali pitch, which he described as a “good pitch.”

The semifinals and finals, however, will be at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium.

The league is led by its chairman, Fer Martinez, who is also the president of the Ippca, which counts 15 members from the country’s alternative players in the oil industry.

source: Business Mirror