Etheridge, PHL dreaming of Premier League
Cardiff City goalkeeper Neil Etheridge could become the first southeast Asian to play in the English Premier League later this year, and also help develop football in his native Philippines.
Etheridge has missed just one game in Cardiff’s push to be promoted to the Premier League from The Championship, English football’s second tier. With 13 games of the 46 remaining in the 2017-18 season, Cardiff sits in second place and is on course to join the richest and most popular league in the world.
“We are not thinking of the Premier League just yet,” Etheridge, born in London in 1990 to an English father and Filipino mother, told The Associated Press.
“Physically, mentally and emotionally, The Championship is a very strong level of football. I would argue that it is right up there with some of the best leagues and is hard to get out of.”
The Championship contains two former European title winners and is in the top 10 of 2017. most-watched leagues in the world with an average attendance in 2017-18 of over 20,000. The battle for promotion is fierce. “There are big clubs paying large amounts of money to try and get into the Premier League,” said Etheridge. “It would be a dream to play there.” It has been a dream for many southeast Asian players. Football is the most popular sport in every country in the region except the Philippines, but having a player in the Premier League, closely-followed in southeast Asia, could make a difference. “I hope it would have a significant impact on the game here,” Chris Greatwich, a former national teammate of Etheridge, said. “When Cardiff played Manchester City in the FA Cup recently there was a real buzz as Neil faced some of the best players in the world. To have a player from the Philippines there every week would be very exciting.” Greatwich is the head coach of Kaya, a leading club in the Philippines Football League, the country’s first nationwide professional league first established in the With the second season due to kick off in March, there are issues with two of the eight teams with- drawing due to financial issues.
As well as Etheridge in the Premier League, the Philippines qualifying for the 2019 Asian Cup for the first time could help. The national team only has to avoid defeat at home to Tajikistan on March 27 to do so.
“The Asian Cup is a massive deal,” Greatwich said. “If you had said 10 years ago that we would be one game away from playing Korea, Japan and Australia then people would have laughed. Hopefully, it will be a watershed moment for the impact it could have on the domestic game here.”
Fans in the Philippines are hoping that Etheridge can transfer his form in England, where he has stopped the opposition from scoring in 15 league games so far this season, back to southeast Asia next month. /