Manila, Philippines – Continuing its efforts of developing the game of football in all areas, the Philippines Football Federation (PFF) yesterday launched its latest initiative, the “MY PFF” Football Registration Program at the Century Park Hotel.
PFF General Secretary Atty. Edwin B. Gastanes and other PFF officials, witnessed the kick-off of the much-anticipated online football membership program when the Philippine Men’s National Team Head Coach Thomas Dooley and Philippine Under-22 National Team Player Javier Gayoso became the first persons to officially register with MY PFF.
“This is just another step to further develop our sport by ensuring that the federation is able to connect with all members of the football community. This program was developed to register the estimated 1.7 million football participants not limited to players, coaches, referees, and officials, so the federation will have vital data at hand to develop a long-term strategy for all activities starting from the grassroots and upwards,” explains PFF President Mariano Araneta.
Starting 3 July 2017, the program will be embedded into the PFF website for easy access and registration. “MY PFF will be a mandatory membership registration for all football stakeholders, with the exception of the fans of course,” stated PFF General Secretary Atty Edwin B. Gastanes. “All players, coaches, referees, football officials are required to register between today until the end of the year in order to be eligible to participate in various PFF sanctioned activities such as leagues, tournaments, festivals etc. beginning 2018.
“My PFF” was developed in partnership with software developer RSportz and the marketing arm MMC Sportz Asia. It follows the mandate of FIFA and will be fully administered by the PFF. The program features different membership tiers related to the different football activities including Players from grassroots (6-12 years old); Youth (13-17 years); Juniors (18-23 years) and seniors (over 23 years). Other categories were also created to register the professional players, referees, coaches, other football officials, and even the fans. The annual membership fees starts from as low as P100 for grassroots players up to P2,000 for professional players.
“Each member will receive a personalized membership card. The fee structure, which has been approved by the PFF board has been carefully designed to encourage registrations on all levels”, explains Gastanes. “We will shortly also announce additional benefits linked to the memberships such as discounts or preferential ticketing options to league and national team matches but this is work in progress for the coming weeks.”
An applicant just goes to the PFF website www.pff.org.ph and clicks on the link for “MY PFF” and follows the simple instructions. Applicants are required to upload a copy of the passport or a copy of his/her birth certificate and make payment via Dragonpay, which allows for cash deposits or the use of a credit card online.
The second phase of “MY PFF” will be to integrate all sanctioned tournaments and leagues into the system to allow for online registration and event management. It is important to have the tools to administer and regulate the football community. Access to precise data will now allow us to properly plan our grassroots activities and football tournaments in order to detect and develop the next generation of potential national team players.”
“This is a great initiative as it creates a feeling of belonging especially for the players and fans while at the same time the federation will be in a better position to manage and administer the football community once all have registered,” stated Coach Dooley who was among the first to welcome the program and to register his name.
Philippine Under-22 National Team Player Javier Gayoso endorsed and is thrilled about the program.
“MY PFF” has been a project in the making since 2015 when the PFF appointed MMC Sportz and RSportz to drive the development of the software. “The biggest assets for the members are the interactive profiles which allow direct communication with the federation, register for activities like leagues and tournaments and to have access to images, results and statistics. Each time a tournament is completed, the statistics and results will be automatically uploaded online and all profiles of the participants will be updated with the same information, states Eric M. Gottschalk, CEO of MMC Sportz. “RSportz is a specialized USA made sports management software allowing for large data base management, tournament management and total social media integration and we are proud to have received the endorsement of FIFA to go ahead and implement our software with the PFF.”
