UNITED CITY FC TO OFFICIALLY REPRESENT CENTRAL LUZON FIRST UCFC HOME MATCHES HOSTED IN OCTOBER IN NEW CLARK CITY

CAPAS, TARLAC. Philippines Football League (PFL) defending national champion United City Football Club (UCFC) is set to start hosting its official home matches during the ongoing 2022/23 PFL season at the New Clark City Athletics Stadium from October onwards, bringing excitement and live matches to football fans in Central Luzon.

The UCFC home-premier will be against the Azkals Development Team (ADT) led by former Azkals Captain Stephan Schroeck, on October 22 at 4:00pm at the world-class facility at New Clark City, making it the first professional football game to be held at the venue since it was built in 2019. This will be followed by UCFC hosting Stallion Laguna FC on November 5, with ticket sales for both matches going live this week

Through these matches, UCFC demonstrates its commitment to represent Region III and to raise Central Luzon’s banner on the national football scene. 

“To represent Central Luzon and bring football to the local community is a major step in the development of professional football in the country. Football is all about belonging, therefore our matches need to be played within the community we are representing, which is now Clark in Central Luzon,” stated UCFC President Eric M. Gottschalk in the presence of Philippines Football Federation General Secretary Atty. Edwin Gastanes and Central Luzon Football Association President Alvin Yalung, during the signing of the MOU to seal the representation.  “We are proud to have access to the best sports venue in the Philippines when we host our home matches and we look forward to building our community and have our fans attending live matches at this beautiful stadium”. 

Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) President and Chief Executive Officer Aileen R. Zosa gave her warm welcome to UCFC, and extended BCDA’s commitment to give the best football experience to the teams playing in New Clark City and their fans. 

“World-class sports facilities, safe environment, and stunning views–New Clark City can offer all of these and more. We are excited that UCFC chose New Clark City Athletics Stadium as the venue for its matches, and we hope to bring pride to players who will be coming to play here,” Zosa said.

UCFC (previously known as Ceres Negros) joined the PFL as one of the founding teams of the professional league in 2017 and has since bagged the national championships four times (2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020) as well as the Copa Paulino Alcantara 2 times. 

This ongoing PFL Season, which will run until May 2023, UCFC is competing in a quadruple round robin format against six other Club, with the winner to qualify for the 2023-2024 AFC Champions League Group Stage in August next year. Coming off strong performances against main rival Kaya Iloilo FC, UCFC is the favorite to retain its league title this season. During the December - January winter break, UCFC will start setting-up its Clark based youth academy with different activities also scheduled to take place around the football stadium, before UCFC will kick-off regular team appearances in early 2023 with at least 6 more PFL home games scheduled at NCC.  

Certified by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the New Clark City Athletics Stadium has a 20,000-seating capacity with a nine-lane 400-meter track and field, and another four-lane warm-up track surrounding a natural grass pitch, suitable to host local, national and international football competitions to the highest PFF, AFC ad FIFA standards.  

The complex was nominated as among the world’s best stadiums in the Stadium of the Year Awards in 2020. The following year, the facility received the Highly Commended recognition from the World Architecture Festival (WAF) in the Completed Buildings - Sport Category, and was also shortlisted for the Engineering Prize of the same competition.

- ### -

About UCFC:

***

ABOUT UCFC: United City Football Club (UCFC) is a SEC registered Filipino professional football club company that aims to promote and build values such as equality, diversity, leadership through sports. 

UCFC is a member of the Philippines Football League (PFL), the Philippines' professional level of men's club football in the country and the official representative of the Central Luzon football association. UCFC, formerly known as Ceres-Negros before it changed its name in 2020, is currently the 4x defending national champion in the PFL and 2x winner of the Copa Paulino Alcantara. UCFC is also the 2x Philippines representative on the AFC Champions League group stage level (2021,2022), the biggest Asian football tournament.   

As a mission, the Club stands to help re-invigorate young athletes, families, and the local community through discipline, hard work, and passion. The ambition is further set the gold standard for best practices in SE Asia - be it on the football field, or within the community - and to provide a pathway and equal opportunities for the next generation of young talent in their pursuit of sporting & educational excellence.

UCFC is the most followed professional football club in the Philippines and the only club active on all major social media platforms. Its winning tradition and the ability to bring the best Filipino players to play for UCFC has gained the Club the reputation of being the foremost football club form the Philippines with strong reach into South East Asia and beyond

The Club recently announced its move to Central Luzon to start playing its home matches of the PFL at the world class facilities in New Clark City. 

Further, UCFC  has launched a dedicated 3rd playing kit to mark its move to New Clark City which will feature the orange colors of the Athletics stadium as well as permanent New Clark City branding on the right sleeve. The traditional home and away jerseys in black and gold are currently featuring the symbols of the Clark balloon festival. 

Future plans by UCFC evolve around setting-up the Clubs youth football academy and to build its own football-specific stadium

UCFC Logo meaning: 

The UCFC logo was chosen through a public fan voting and designed by Gerard Andaya of Grit Sports. The new UCFC logo features a circular crest not too different from its original identity of  to acknowledge the roots of the club in Bacolod.  With two (2) stars which pay tribute to the origins of the “Ceres–LaSalle” & “Ceres–Negros” heritage. The center of the logo is “Geometric patterned football” to represent that football is at the center of the club’s existence. The symmetry of the ball stands for “Unity & Stability. And the solid outer circle on the other hand symbolizes the solid fans, being the club’s foundation that holds everything together.  

Upcoming matches at New Clark City: 22 October vs ADT at 4:00pm & 5 November vs Stallion Laguna t 4:00pm; Ticket prices: Pesos: 200.00 grandstand; P150.00 Bleachers; Corporate hospitality and advertising opportunities, kindly inquire through the media officer.

Current UCFC Club Partners:

Allianz, New Clark City Chronos Athletics, Mysport, Klean Athlete, Sportskred

UNITED CITY FC ANNOUNCES FIRST BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY PARTNERSHIP - GRAVITY SPORT ADDS UCFC TO ITS GROWING SPONSORSHIP PORTFOLIO

4 November 2021 - Manila, Philippines:

United City Football Club (UCFC) announces Gravity Sport as its official blockchain partner in another landmark sponsorship deal for an Asian football club.

UCFC becomes the first Asian football club entering into a fully executed commercial & technology partnership with Gravity Sport. This consumer-focused universal blockchain solution enables sports teams to build & monetize content, data security, and entertainment in a custom-built digital asset ecosystem. Gravity Sport has previously signed a partnership with Italian side Parma Calcio.

With the rise of blockchain, NFTs, and metaverse in the country, UCFC is positive that this partnership will pave the future of football and how fans will have ownership of the club's collectibles and put a new meaning to tokenization.

"We are proud to have reached another milestone in our vision of how we think Club football not only in the Philippines shall evolve over time, and we would like to thank Gravity Sport for its vision to see the potential in partnering with UCFC as well as Orchid Sport & Entertainment, which helped us to complete the deal." States Eric M. Gottschalk, President of UCFC.

"We will be the first regional football club to integrate blockchain into its operations from merchandise, membership, data analysis & security. Therefore, it allows our fans to get closer to the players through our dedicated fan tokens and exclusive NFTs, which will be launched ahead of the 2022 season".

Through the Gravity Sport blockchain technology and NFT marketplace, United City will be able to create innovative fan-owned assets such as exclusive digital player cards, including interviews, match highlights, and goals scored. Such assets can be obtained using the unique UCFC fan tokens and can be traded among fans.
"The partnership with Gravity Sport and the use of blockchain technology will allow UCFC to make another step forward in unlocking new revenue streams and to become a sustainable football business that does not rely purely on match-day revenues or sponsorship income alone," states Gottschalk.

Also, it will connect to new global audiences with mass adoption, delivering next-generation adoption & future-proofing engagement.

As a digital economy enabler, Gravity Sport commercializes, hosts & operates the complete platform in partnership with the rights holder.

"Gravity Sport is tremendously proud to add United City FC to its growing portfolio of international sports properties, following our jersey partnership with Parma Calcio in August, "commented Stuart Gallacher, Founder at Gravity Sport.

"The Philippines is a very interesting market for us as the country is poised to reach new economic heights in the near future while its young, tech-savvy population is naturally equipped to easily grow into the new area of "blockchain technology".

"And just like us, UCFC is fast evolving, has a clear, futuristic vision while displaying strong values which assures that our ambitions are closely aligned. We are excited to innovate jointly with UCFC as we believe we have an incredibly exciting global blockchain NFT marketplace which will benefit all stakeholders, players, media, and of course the strong fan audiences that UCFC already has."

The Gravity Sport partnership is extended across all the UCFC football and esports properties, and while effective immediately, it will fully kick off early next year alongside the 2022 season.

***

ABOUT UCFC: United City Football Club (UCFC) is a SEC registered Filipino Professional Football Club that aims to promote and build values such as equality, diversity, leadership through sports.

UCFC is a member of the Philippines Football League (PFL), the Philippines' professional level of men's club football in the country. The Club is currently the 4x defending national champion in the PFL and the first Philippine team to qualify and to win a match on the AFC Champions League level when the team featured against Beijing FC during the AFC Champions League Group stages in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

As a mission, the Club stands to help re-invigorate young athletes, families, and the local community through discipline, hard work, and passion. The ambition is to be the best of the best in Asia - be it on the football field, esports, or within the community - and provide a pathway and equal opportunities for the next generation of young talent in their pursuit of sporting & educational excellence.

The Club recently announced its move to the Pampanga / Tarlac region, where it plans to set up its youth football academy in Clark City and to and build its football stadium while making use of the already existing stadium facilities in New Clark City in the meantime.

As part of the move, United City FC will be renamed to United Clark FC by the end of 2021, while its Esports division will simply be called UCFC Esports.

The UCFC Esports division was successfully launched in June 2021 and currently features three professional teams participating in titles such as Valorant, League of Legends: Wild Rift as well as E-football (PES / FIFA), with more teams such as "Mobile Legends" etc. to be added in 2022.

United City FC Unveils Esports Division as ‘UCFC Esports’ United City FC to become the First Philippines Football Club entering Esports

MANILA, PHILIPPINES - United City Football Club (FC), the current four-time defending champion in the Philippine Football League (PFL) and slated to participate in the AFC Champions League 2021, unveils its esports division dubbed as "UCFC Esports." This initiative is a testament to UCFC's commitment to be the best of the best in Asia; whether it be on the football field or a professional gaming environment, ultimately, this expansion stays true to UCFC's mission of inspiring the next generation of fans and followers of professional sports.

"The global growth of esports has been tremendous, and we are fortunate that the Philippines' esports scene is growing rapidly, which paves a great path for us to take on this venture," said Eric Gottschalk, CEO at United City Football Club. Currently, there is an estimated 45 million games just in the Philippines, with some of the key titles having over 10 million followers and games participating in organized competitions. "We are very serious about expanding our horizons to a younger demographic, and we set out to replicate the sporting success of our football division, with our esports division to adhere to the same mission and values that the club has already established. We are further excited to bring professional gaming with us as part of our LGU partnership with Clark City and the Pampanga and Tarlac region – a sport that has seen tremendous growth, support, and interest by the local communities."

In their pursuit of excellence in developing champions, UCFC Esports has tapped the white label esports management services of BrenPro Inc, the corporation notable for owning and managing Bren Esports, one of the leading esports organizations in Southeast Asia.

"We tapped BrenPro's esports management services as we identified them to be the right partners for us to create and develop champions which will allow us to emulate our success in football," said Gottschalk. "Their values, mission, and vision for the development of the Esports community in the Philippines, in general, align very well with our ambitions as a sports organization, and we would like to thank the team of BrenPro for their support and commitment to helping us establishing a competitive esport division in such a short period of time."

BrenPro established Bren Esports in 2017; the organization immediately found success and has since then become a leading esports organization in the Philippines who is also known to have one of the biggest esports training facilities in Southeast Asia.

"Our formula for success is that we instill excellence in every step of the way, which enables us to groom and develop future esports champions," said Bernard Lu Chong, CEO at Bren Esports. "We are definitely committed and confident that we can guide and shape UCFC Esports to be a leading esports contender not just locally but globally."

For its entry into esports, UCFC Esports will focus on four esports titles, namely Valorant, League of Legends: Wild Rift, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, and FIFA 2021, which have been identified as relevant in the current local esports scene. The official roster for each esports title announcement will be made on UCFC Esports official Facebook page (facebook.com/ucfcesports), while a dedicated fan membership and a jersey design contest will be the first interactions with the new fan communities of UCFC.


ABOUT UCFC

United City Football Club (UCFC) is a registered Filipino Professional Football Club that aims to promote and build values such as equality, diversity, leadership through sports.

UCFC is a member of the Philippines Football League (PFL), the Philippines' professional level of men's club football. The Club is the 4x defending national champion in the PFL and the first Philippine team to compete in the AFC Champions League from 26 June to 11 July 2021.

As a mission, the Club stands to help re-invigorate young athletes, families, and the local community through discipline, hard work, and passion. Their ambition is to be the best of the best in Asia - be it on the football field, esports, or within the community - and provide a pathway ad equal opportunities for the next generation of young talent in their pursuit of sporting & educational excellence.

The Club recently announced its move to the Pampanga / Tarlac region, where it plans to set up its youth football academy in Clark City and to and build its football stadium while making use of the already existing stadium facilities in New Clark City in the meantime.

As part of the move, United City FC will be re-named to United Clark FC by the end of 2021, while its Esports division will simply be called UCFC Esports.

UNITED CITY FOOTBALL CLUB (UCFC) ANNOUNCES NEW HEAD COACH

21 August 2020 - Manila, Philippines: Keen on making its mark as a rebranded club, United City Football Club (UCFC) has announced its new top-notch Head Coach, who is not a stranger at all to Asian Football.

British-Australian Trevor Morgan, a decorated football manager, who most recently headed the Bhutan National Team, won a number of silverware during his stint with the Indian Super League — Winning eight (8) trophies across three (3) seasons, including the Calcutta Cup in 2012-2013; and the Calcutta League in 2011-2013 and 2016-2017. He also led the Indian club East Bengal to reach the quarterfinals with an unbeaten record, during the 2013 AFC Cup, the first Indian club to do so.

Trevor served as Head Coach for Sorrento Soccer Club, in Western Australia, from 1997-2001, with the team ending as league champions and cup winners, among many other accolades the club gained for the very first time under his watch. He was also the Head Coach of Sengkang Punggol FC in Singapore, when the club became runners up during the Singtel League Cup in 2007.

Trevor also served as an Assistant Coach for Hull City FC, during the 2008-2009 season, making him the first Australian coach to work in the English Premiere League (EPL).

As a football player, he appeared in over four hundred (400) League and Cup games in the United Kingdom (UK), whilst scoring over two hundred (200) goals, plying his trade from 1980-1994.

According to Trevor Morgan, “I cannot wait to get onto the training field with the players and look forward to working with a group of high-quality players and staff. I have been given a wonderful opportunity to help take an already very successful team to the next level, and I will give everything I have to help improve our team and to further establish Philippine Football as a force to be reckoned within Asia.”

While United City Football Club (UCFC) co-founder Eric Gottschalk says, “His exposure to various leagues: From the English Football League, the English Premiere League, the Indian Super League, Singapore S-League, Western Australian State League, Malaysia Super Liga, to name a few, has prepared him very well for his new role as the Head Coach of United City Football Club (UCFC), which suits very well the ambition that this club has. We are excited and proud to have him on board, especially since the season is about to start. Trevor will bring the necessary experience onto the pitch to immediately get the team as best as possible competition ready, which considering the long COVID break is a key task in itself. We have high ambitions for the local league and the AFC Cup and we believe, Trevor is the right coach especially since he is no stranger to Asian football.

Website: www.unitedcityfootballclub.com
Facebook: @unitedcityfootballclub
Twitter: @UnitedCityFoot1
Instagram: @unitedcityfootballclub
Linkedin: @United City Football Club

ABOUT UNITED CITY FOOTBALL CLUB:

Established in 2020, the Philippines-side intends to be a club of the people, the pride of the nation and a place to live your dreams, with fans at the forefront of everything it does.

UNITED CITY FOOTBALL CLUB PULL OFF ANOTHER SIGNING COUP WITH THE GERMANY-BORN OTT BROTHERS

07 AUGUST 2020 - Manila, Philippines: United City Football Club (UCFC) pull off another signing coup, this time with the Germany-born Ott brothers — Manuel and Mike.

Midfielders Manuel and Mike Ott, signed with the club, late evening Manila time of August 6, 2020. Transfermarkt.com was also quick to update Manny Ott’s current club on its website.

United City Football Club co-founder Eric Gottschalk says, “We are happy to announce that two (2) more former players have signed on to play for United City Football Club (UCFC) this season. Both, Manny and Mike, bring a tremendous amount of experience on the club and international level to the team and this will be instrumental in our pursuit to defend the PFL title and to progress from the AFC Cup Group stages in September in Vietnam.”

He adds, “These two are not our final signings for the upcoming season with 4 more players to be announced shortly.”

United City Football Club (UCFC) announced its takeover of the Negros-side barely a month ago, and is focused on retaining the titles it has won for the local league; and building on its previous successes with the AFC.