IN a stunning and sad development for Philippine football, Jeff Cheng has stepped down as the team manager of the Filipinas, the national women’s football team, according to the squad’s media relations officer, Lisette Marques.
Marques shared the statement of Cheng, who has bankrolled the national women’s football team program since 2017, to the media that was posted in the Philippine Football Press Corp chat group.
“To my dear (media) friends, last Thursday, I informed the PFF Director of National Teams that I am stepping away from my role as Team Manager of the women’s teams,” the businessman and football patron said.
“For several months, we tried our best to make things work, under new and very different circumstances. Unfortunately, the situation is not workable. Our priorities and goals do not align, and the PWNT organization that we worked hard to develop is incompatible with current methods,” he explained.
“I want to thank all of you for the support and kindness that you have shown me. It is through you that our efforts have not gone unnoticed and I am grateful to have shared some of the best football experiences with all of you. Until next time. Maraming Salamat.
Laban, Filipinas!” Cheng concluded.
Known as the low-key yet effective manager of the national women’s football team, Cheng, who played as a left back for Xavier School, invested heavily in the squad, turning them into a force to reckon with not only in Asia but also on the world stage.
Cheng, who also supported the national men’s teams that saw action in the 2015 Singapore and 2017 Malaysia Southeast Asian Games, used his network and resources to recruit talented and skillful players with Filipino heritage all over the globe for the national team.
It is an open secret in the football community that more often that than not, the businessman dipped into his own pocket to fund the training that took the Nationals to all parts of the globe to make them into a competitive side.
His master stroke was hiring in October 2021 Australian tactician Alen Stajcic, who steered the Filipinas to the semifinals of the AFC Asian Women’s Cup in January 2022 in India for a historic ticket to the FIFA Women’s World Cup co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand the succeeding year.
Stajcic also called the shots for the Filipinas who brought home a bronze medal from the Vietnam Southeast Asian Games women’s football championships, beating Myanmar 2-1 in the battle for third place at the Cam Pha Stadium in Quang Ninh Province.
Under Stajcic, the Pinay footballers attained another milestone by winning the AFF Women’s Football Championship trophy with a masterful 3-0 conquest of multi-titled Thailand in front of a packed crowd on July 17, 2022 at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
It was the first major football international title won by the country.
In their maiden appearance in the FIFA Women’s World Cup Down Under, Stajcic’s charges also notched another first by stunning the hometown Ferns 1-0 in front of a stunned hometown crowd at the Sky Stadium in Wellington, New Zealand on July 25, 2023 on striker Sarina Bolden’s hammering header.
When Stajcic resigned after the World Cup, Cheng tapped another Aussie, Mark Torcaso, the 2023 Australian Coach of the Year, as the new coach of the Filipinas.
How the resignation of Cheng will affect Torcaso’s tenure and the rest of the coaching staff of the Filipinas remains to be seen.
