MANILA – Spanish striker Bienvenido Marañón of Ceres-Negros FC dreams to play for the Philippine men’s football team with the processing of his naturalization papers ongoing.
Marañón, the leading scorer of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup, said it will be a dream come true for him to join the Azkals practices or play with them even in friendly matches.
“Yeah, for me it’s a dream come true. I hope that everything is well and I can get naturalized to Filipino,” Marañón said during the CPT Crossover Podcast of Bacolodnon sportswriter Cedelf Tupas.
“For me there’s nothing better right now than [to] be a Filipino,” added the 34-year-old Spanish striker.
Earlier this year, Negrense senator Juan Miguel Zubiri filed two Senate Bills which aims to naturalized Marañón and the Spaniard’s Ceres-Negros teammate Robert Lopez Mendy.
“My idea here is… the personal goal is to get naturalized and play even a friendly game with Azkals. For me, that is my dream,” said Marañón. “After that, if I get that, I would like to work with the youth to show them the way that they can survive in the future.”
He added. “I feel very comfortable also in the country. I love the country. I would like to live here with my family.”
Marañón moved to Ceres-Negros on May 2015 and was instrumental in the club’s ascent as a powerhouse team in the country with 61 goals and 20 assists in 99 appearances./PN
