Azkals, TV celebrities banner UFL season

For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV What do the Azkals, Brapanese celebrities and Jake Cuenca have in common? They’re all playing in the third season of the United Football League. The UFL Cup officially kicked off Saturday at the Rizal Memorial Stadium with 28 clubs. The 15 regular teams were joined by 13 guest clubs that would be vying for five slots in Division II and two slots in Division I. Azkals on the pitch Perhaps the biggest addition to the UFL this season are the Younghusband brothers who will be playing for the Loyola Meralco Sparks FC. They will be teaming up with another set of brothers – Darren, Mark and Matthew Hartmann. Back-to-back season champions Air Force Riders have Ian Araneta and Long Teng Cup Golden Boot winner Chieffy Caligdong manning their front line. Fil-foreigners Angel Guirado and Misagh Bahadoran will be teaming up with Sudanese scoring machine Izo El-Habbib for defending Cup champion Global FC. But the biggest powerhouse this season is Kaya Cignal FC which boasts Azkals skipper Aly Borromeo, Anton Del Rosario, Nate Burkey, Jason Sabio and a handful of U-23 national team players. “We’re all friends but when we step on the pitch, we know that we’re competing against each other," said Kaya centerback Sabio. New talents Borromeo said that a local league is crucial to the development of the national team because it provides them more experience and training. “It’s very important to us because we only play in international games every so often. With a domestic league, we get to play to more games all throughout the year," he said. “Plus this is where we hone talents. Before there was nowhere to go to after playing football in high school and college," he added, pointing out that it’s possible that they would pick out new members for the national team from the UFL pool. The organizers opened the Cup to 13 guest clubs because of plans to expand the league. Among the guest teams, one particularly stands out because of its controversial roster. Team Socceroo FC has names like Daniel Matsunaga, Fabio Ide, Akihiro Sato and Jake Cuenca in the lineup. While their football talents are still questionable, the TV celebrities would undoubtedly be raking in a bigger gate attendance in the UFL. Biggest UFL season yet With the addition of the Azkals and a few other interesting personalities to look out for, the UFL has become significantly more competitive. The teams beefed up not just their lineups, but also their coaching staffs. Even the referee pool underwent training from FIFA to ensure better quality play. The UFL Cup is a free-for-all competition among the 28 participating teams regardless of division and will run from October to December. Following shortly in January is the UFL League which will be comprised of two divisions with ten teams each. - OMG, GMA News