WITH businessman-sportsman Jeff Cheng stepping down, national men’s football team manager Fred Gonzalez will now wear two hats.
“With Jeff Cheng gone, we will also assume the duties as interim manager of the Filipinas (the national women’s squad) while we look for a suitable successor,” Gonzalez, also the Philippine Football Federation national teams director, said in a press conference yesterday at the Studio 300 in Makati.
In a surprise development that rocked the football community, Cheng, whose leadership, engagement and heavy investment led to the Filipinas reaching the FIFA Women’s World Cup last year, relinquished his role recently.
“Our priorities and goals do not align, and the PWNT organization that we worked hard to develop is incompatible with current methods,” Cheng said in a press statement explaining his resignation.
PFF president John Gutierrez, who acknowledged Cheng’s big support for the Filipinas, said that perhaps “it is time to move on even as we continue to recognize Sir Jeff for the success of our national women’s football team.”
