The Philippines Football League (PFL) hopes to see more players from the league be called up for the men’s national team in future international tournaments.
PFL commissioner Coco Torre said he would rather give those who play locally the chance to represent the country, citing the participation of Jarvey Gayoso, Mark Sawinston and Marco Casambre of defending champion Kaya FC – Iloilo, Chima Uzoka and JB Borlongan of Cebu FC and Daisuke Sato of Davao Aguilas-UMak FC in the Philippines’ 5-0 defeat to Iraq last Wednesday in the 2024 Olympic qualifiers.
“Our objective is to have the national team players come from PFL. Not to alienate those playing internationally but that’s the objective,” Torre said.
“We want to have these players in the national team based on their sporting merits and not for anything else.”
The PFL is set to open this Saturday with 15 football clubs clashing for the coveted crown.
Gayoso said getting some much-needed game time before the national team’s final matches in the second round of the World Cup qualifiers will only do a lot of good for the squad.
The last pair of matches for the Philippines will be on 6 and 11 June against Vietnam and Indonesia, respectively.
“If we’re getting a lot more playing time and get a lot of international experience, it is beneficial for the local guys to come back to their clubs,” Gayoso said.
Philippine head coach Tom Saintfiet will also watch the PFL matches to get a better grasp of the local football scene.
“I had no chance to watch much of Philippine football in the past months. By 6 or 7 April, the league will start and I will be there,” Saintfiet said.
