United City FC rule in Asia
No, it’s not some weird Manchester merger – it’s the champions of the Philippines
When Philippines powerhouses Ceres- Negros were taken over by a sports marketing firm in July, the new owners knew how to create global interest.
In Asia and beyond, everyone knows Manchester United, and they also know Manchester City, so... erm, what about changing the club’s name to ‘ United City’? The mere thought of such a merger is rightfully enough to horrify the people of England’s fifth- largest city, but the club’s name has received attention – and not just in Manchester.
United City aren’t blessed with Bruno Fernandes or Kevin De Bruyne, but they do have former Bolton and Bournemouth forward Trevor Morgan as manager, which is almost as good.
Based in Bacolod on the island of Negros, the club were founded in 2012 by Leo Rey Yanson, owner of the Ceres bus company. His investment helped them to promptly secure promotion from the country’s second tier – they dominated a division including the Philippine Air Force, the Philippine Navy and the brilliantly named Dolphins United.
They’d recruited players from South Korea, Ivory Coast and Spain by the time they surged to the domestic title in 2015, managed by Ali Go in their first season in the top flight. Soon though, Ali Go became Ali Gone – instead, former Yugoslavia international Risto Vidakovic was installed as they won the league again in 2017. That earned them a place in the Asian Champions League preliminary rounds, where they stunned Brisbane Roar in Australia, despite a goal for the hosts from ex- Middlesbrough hero Massimo Maccarone. Axel Witsel’s Tianjin Quanjian eliminated them in the final play- off round.
The club became champions of the Philippines for three successive years, and gave FC Tokyo a run for their money in torrential conditions during Champions League qualifying in
January 2020, before COVID- 19 halted life. The Ceres bus company took a massive financial hit, and it looked like the football club may be disbanded before they were eventually flogged to sports marketing firm MMC Sportz Asia.
The renamed club won a shortened domestic campaign in 2020, nudging them into the Champions League group stage for 2021, where they’ll face Kawasaki Frontale and Beijing Guoan – recently taken over by Slaven Bilic.
A few short months ago, Bilic had just been promoted to the Premier League with West Brom – if you’d asked him who he was most looking forward to playing in 2020- 21, he may well have said: “United, City.”
This wasn’t exactly what he had in mind...