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By ADRIAN STEWART CO
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MANILA – The rebranded Ceres-Negros Football Club is set to be one of the two football clubs that will represent the country in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup slated later next year.
Ceres-Negros earned the qualification to Asia’s second most important club football competition after finishing runner-up in the United Football League (UFL) Cup and League conferences.
The squad has been drawn to Group G where it will face the Tampines Rovers of Singapore, Vietnam League champions Hanoi T&T, and Malaysian Super League runners-up Felda United.
The other Philippine team in the tournament is the Global Football Club, which was grouped with Johor Darul Ta’zim of Malaysia, Myanmar and the 2016 General Aung San Shield winners in Group F.
However, in case Global qualifies to the AFC Champions League in January 2017, third placer Loyola Meralco Sparks Football Club will clinch the second and last slot in Group F.
The AFC Cup is set to form a new format as it introduces a more regional approach in the group stage. There will be three groups of four dedicated to Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) clubs which would render qualification into the knockout stages a bit more stringent.
Unlike before, this edition introduces a zonal format instead. Hence, teams in West Asia and Asean Zones would have to finish as the group winner and the best group runner-up in order to make the zonal semi-final./PN
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