The ongoing construction of the new world-class soccer football field in Maasin City. (Photo courtesy of Maasin CIO)
Maasin City is poised to position itself as a premier destination for competitive football as it opens its world-class football pitch in Barangay Tam-is.
Mayor Nacional Mercado said he will prioritize a program to aggressively market the football field in Barangay Tam-is as a venue for FIFA-accredited matches and tournaments.
The Tam-is football pitch will be used as one of the competition venues of the Eastern Visayas Regional Athletic Association (EVRAA) Meet which Maasin City co-hosts from February 27 to March 2, featuring eight different ball games, including the secondary level football match. This event marks the first time the new sports complex in Barangay Tam-is will be used.
Other EVRAA games scheduled to be played in the city include arnis, badminton, basketball, chess, pencak silat, volleyball, and wushu.
“After EVRAA, then we can move forward. Of course, we would like to market, we would issue an official bulletin with FIFA, with e-sports, with the Philippine Sports Commission, that we have this facility in Maasin City so that they can also help us market our field,” Mercado said.
The facility, the only one of its kind thus far in Eastern Visayas, underwent strict, rigorous scrutiny from FIFA, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association. The length of the soccer field measured approximately 100 to 110 meters long and 64 to 75 meters wide. Also, the playing ground is rectangular in shape, with continuous line marks, including goal lines and field markings.
Mayor Mercado said the sports complex will also house other attractions aside from the FIFA standard soccer field such as basketball stadium, volleyball gym, tennis, badminton courts, swimming pool, grandstand, and convention center, all built according to standards, their construction still ongoing, covering an area of more than eight hectares.
Mercado, a soccer enthusiast himself during his student days, said he had envisioned a playing venue for those interested in playing soccer sports, especially the youth, in addition to the potential of holding invitational tournaments as a way to promote sports tourism development in the city.
That vision began during his first term in 2016 when he met a fellow official from Isabela who impressed on him the idea of a sports complex. By his second term, LGU Maasin was able to acquire a parcel of land in Brgy. Tam-is big enough to turn his vision into reality.
“One time, I had the opportunity to visit Cauyan City, and former Mayor Bernard Dy is a good friend of mine. Cauyan is in Isabela province. He showed me the concept of a sports complex,” Mercado recalled.
And the rest, they say, is history. (MMP/PIA Southern Leyte)
