MANILA -- An expanded field will vie for the crown in the third season of the 7's Football League.
Three new clubs, highlighted by the return to existence of Bohemian Sports Club, will join eight holdovers from last year in trying to thwart Super Eagles from capturing a third straight title.
"Bohemian is out there making moves. They're gonna be the team to mess with. They signed Izzo (Elhabib). They have Jason de Jong on the team. They took Hamed (Hajimehdi) away from me. They have some good players on that team, so I'm looking forward to seeing what they could do on the field," Anton del Rosario, the founder of the league, said during the press launch at the Belle and Dragon Restaurant in Makati on Thursday.
Del Rosario, a former national football team member who recently played for Global Cebu in the Philippines Football League, now the Philippine Premier League, last season, played alongside Hajimehdi and even Aly Borromeo with Laro FC last season.
Joining Laro and Super Eagles among last season's holdovers are runner-up Ghana FC, Futbol Fanatics, Tondo, Stallion Laguna, Real Amigos, Deportivo Matu, and Enderun, which tied up with Ceres Negros' youth team program for this season.
On the other hand, Superbad and H and J All-Stars will also make their 7's Football League debut this season along with Bohemian, which was revived recently by de Jong.
Also, the league got a new major partner in Philam Life.
The partnership was formalized with a contract that also took place during the press launch.
"They're the perfect partner for us 'coz they wanted to get into football. This season is the perfect partner for them in line with what they want to do," del Rosario said.
The new 7's Football League season will start at the McKinley Hill Stadium in Taguig on February 3.
The 12 teams will play a single round robin elimination phase, and the top eight teams will go to the knockout playoffs, which will start late April. (PNA)
