The first Carlos O. Cojuangco National Collegiate Invitational Football Cup unfolds May 11 at football pitches at the Pana-ad stadium in Bacolod City and at the sports complex in Bago city.

Six collegiate football teams, including UAAP champion Far Eastern University, will see action in the week-long tournament.

Other teams which have signed up are NCAA titlist San Beda, Foundation University of Dumaguete, Central Philippine University of Iloilo and the University of Mindanao.

“This is the launching tournament of what we envision to become an annual summer event,” Cojuangco, president of the Negros Occidental Football Association, said in a press release. 

“We hope to provide an avenue for our football community to come together, play, and on the whole, bond,“ he added.

While this will afford the local football aficionados an opportunity to watch a higher quality of play, this will also give the participants the field to test their mettle and skills, he also said.

Cojuangco said the tournament will also help push sports tourism, especially in Bacolod and Bago cities.

The tournament is being organized by the COC Foundation, Inc. with the cooperation of the NOFA, Inc.

Cojuangco also urged the alumni from the participating teams to watch the games and support their alma mater. Most of the teams are coming to the tournament with the support of their alumni.

It would be most meaningful if the alumni who are now based in Negros Occidental can support their schools by cheering for their teams, Cojuangco added.

The tournament will coincide with the Asian Challenge Cup qualifiers set in Iloilo City and Barotac Nuevo town.

Bacolod was supposed to host the Challenge Cup but NOFA said that it will not be involved in the hosting of the tournament, forcing the Philippine Football Federation to move the event to Iloilo.

Cojuangco had earlier said that NOFA was been left in the dark on the details of the preparations for the tournament that is expected to draw teams from Brunei, Bhutan, Tajikistan and the host country.

Cojuangco blasted the PFF, headed by Jose Mari Martinez, for lack of courtesy, saying NOFA has yet to receive a single communication from the PFF on the supposed details of the AFC Cup.*

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