TACLOBAN CITY, PHILIPPINES – Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), through Leyte Football Association (LFA), funded the construction of a two-star football stadium, which will begin by the last quarter of the year.
The project is in line with the recovery and rehabilitation of football infrastructures and facilities after super typhoon “Yolanda” battered the city in 2013.
The construction of the football stadium, which is expected to be fully operational by 2016, is one of the major plans of the International Football Federation as a grant to the Philippine Football Federation (PFF).
LFA board member Theodore Leonard Palami said initially, the purpose of the football stadium is to provide play therapy for the victims especially children.
“This is designed to provide an outlet for young people to cope up with disaster trauma,” Palami said.
The football facility, which will rise next year, is a 105 x 68 meters world-class turf football pitch, which is capable of hosting local, national and even international football cups.
It is also equipped with complete football training facilities for football-related activities of players in Eastern Visayas.
Christian Alejo Severino, 20, football enthusiast and a member of the football varsity team of the Eastern Visayas State University (EVSU), is grateful that a football stadium will rise in the city.
“Finally, we will have a football field in Tacloban, and there is a chance that national and international football cups will be held here. There will be enough time for football players for their training, especially the stadium will provide a good pitch,” Severino said.
LFA is also considering creating football leagues and training football players and enthusiatsm that will eventually produce football players to represent the region and the country in national and global competitions.
The project has a budget requirement of US$ 1 million donated by FIFA for the storm-ravaged region.
PFF President Mariano Araneta and Secretary Edwin Gastanes made the announcement about the project in November last year during the Asian Football Awards Night hosted by the country.