MANILA – Marikina’s “Camp Big Falcon” will finally get to open this Philippines Football League (PFL) season.
The PFL gave JPV Marikina the go-signal to hold the opening match of the sophomore season on Saturday against Global Cebu at its listed home, the Marikina Sports Center.
The league announced the development following an inspection of the field on Tuesday.
With the venue still being fixed to become fit for PFL play, Marikina held its home games last year either at the Binan Football Stadium in Binan, the home of the Laguna team, or the Rizal Memorial Stadium, the home of the defunct Manila side.
There were plans to hold the last three games of Marikina's campaign last year at home, but schedule conflicts forced the club to find another place to hold these matches.
The concerns about the availability of the Marikina Sports Center even led to the forfeiture of one Marikina home game that helped spoil its playoff bid last season.
The Marikina-Cebu game turns out to be the only match that will push through on opening night as the other scheduled match-up pitting Negros and Laguna will be played at a later date.
The PFL announced that the Negros-Laguna clash at the Panaad Stadium in Bacolod was rescheduled to June 27.
“Both clubs have agreed to the rescheduling of their opening match of the season with the club from Laguna as the requesting party, citing unavoidable concerns for the said match," the league said in a statement released Wednesday.
The development means Negros will get an extra month of rest as the club will not have a PFL match until April 4, when it hosts Iloilo.
On the other hand, Laguna's home game against Marikina at the Binan Football Stadium will push through as scheduled on March 11. (PNA)
