By Lou Ellen Antonio

ILIGAN CITY (PIA) – As this City is now experiencing the "new normal" under Alert Level 1, more team sports events like football have begun in recent days.

For its 15th anniversary, the Football Club (FC) 95 conducted a tournament wherein a total of 69 teams from the cities of Davao, Cotabato, Pagadian, Zamboanga, and municipalities of, Mainit and Sindangan have participated.

Of the 69 teams, 42 teams joined for the men’s category, 19 teams for the women’s category, and eight teams for the 40 years old and above category.

Angelo Dologmandin of FC 95 said their club organized the said tournament since the COVID-19 Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases has imposed looser restrictions. He said that they were overwhelmed with the participation of teams.

“When we posted the invitation, na overwhelmed kaayo mi sa kadaghan sa nagpadayag na mo salmot sa tournament. Wala nami gi expect na ingon ani ka daghan ang mo apil,” he said.

[When we posted the invitation, we were very overwhelmed with the number of people who showed interest in the tournament. We didn't expect so many people to participate.]

Dologmandin said that they imposed strict rules in accepting the teams to participate in the tournament. Football players need to submit photocopies of their vaccination cards to ensure that all players are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

FC 95 also sought support from the Macapagal Ancestral House and Bucana Beach Resorts to provide accommodation for the teams. The Iligan City Sports also provided the prizes while the Globe Telecom provided tents. The tournament is also supported by the city government through councilors Jake Balanay and Sol Bacsarpa. (LELA/ PIA Lanao del Norte)