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| Photo c/o Karl Tan |
The third edition of the AIA Vitality Kampeon Cup is set to be unveiled later this month, with the action finally making its long overdue visit to Cebu.
Set to take place on September 22-24 at the Dynamic Herb Complex in Cebu, the hosts will defend their crown against seven other squads, with each of them seeking to be the second-ever champion of the competition.
Leading the cast of challengers is BGC, who has been the losing finalists of the last couple of editions. Ethan Lee, who is managing the side, has decided to tap 7s Football League head honcho Anton del Rosario to serve as a playing coach for the side, in a bid to finally unseat Cebu.
Also set to take part are Bacolod, Iloilo, Palawan, and Pampanga. Davao returns after missing out on the second edition, while making its debut is Zamboanga, whom del Rosario praised for the work that has been done to grow the game there.
Action commences on September 22 with pool play taking place until the afternoon of September 23. Top two teams advance into the crossover semifinals that evening.
The final will take place on September 24 at 2pm, with youth matches serving as an appetizer for the culminating day.
The competition seeks to cap off a strong year for the partnership and investment AIA Philippines has had with seven-a-side football in the country.
AIA Philippines Head of Branding and Communications Bernadette Chincuanco shares, "AIA Philippines, formerly Philam Life, has been partners with the 7s since 2019, even through the pandemic, and we’ve had very good games together, bringing football to so many children and communities in the Philippines and living our brand purpose of helping people live, healthier, longer, better lives. We look forward to more of these."
Lee, who is the AIA 7s Executive Director, shares, "This will be the biggest showing yet in terms of participation in the AIA Vitality Kampeon Cup. With every tournament we play, the league grows even more. I cannot think of a great way to cap off this 2023 with an eight-team field competing for the title of the fastest growing sport and biggest football tournament in the country."
For Del Rosario, this is a reflection of the continued growth of his program. He says, "Last season, we had over 700 teams from several cities around the country participating in their own local 7s football tournaments. Now we have an even bigger field. This will ultimately help the selection for the team that will represent us in the next BPI AIA Asia 7s and perhaps, even the TST tournament."
Back in April, the first AIA Vitality Women's Kampeon Cup took place, with a couple of coaches from AIA-supported Tottenham visiting the country. Not long after, the first BPI AIA Asia 7s brought together some of the best seven-a-side ballers from across the region, with both competitions being held at the McKinley-Hill Football Stadium.
A few weeks after that, AIA helped support the lone Asian entrant Far East United in The Soccer Tournament, a $1M winner-take-all competition that made waves in North Carolina.
The experience allowed del Rosario, and Lee, to import a few things from TST into the 7s Football League, which just started its 8th season earlier this month, as well as in the Kampeon Cup.
The most notable adoption is Target Score Time, which is TST's version of the Elam Ending in their sister competition, The Basketball Tournament. Teams will play an untimed period with the objective of scoring one goal to serve as a winning moment. If Team A is trailing Team B, they will need to score one more goal than Team B's total at the end of the second half. Team B only needs to score to secure the victory.
A quirk of target score time is that every few minutes, a player from both sides will be taken off the field.
With the all the things happening in the sport in the past year, the former Philippines international had one thing to say about that, "It’s a great time to be involved in football."
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