Laos F.C.

Laos Football Club was a professional Filipino association football club based in Quezon City, Metro Manila.[2] The team played in the United Football League, the highest level of club football in the Philippines at the time the league was extant.

Laos

Full name	Laos Football Club
Founded	2009 (2009)
Head coach	Jovanie Villagracia[1]
League	United Football League
2016	10th
Home colors Away colors

History

Global as "Laos F.C."

The club's roots can be traced back in March 2000 when a group of football enthusiasts from Tacloban organized a weekly football practice as their leisure activity.[3] The group which included Dan Palami and some of his employees at his company played their first weekly football games behind the Quezon City hall, and later moving to the Sunken Garden football field inside the University of the Philippines Diliman.[4] Then they began to participate in minor tournaments around Manila, under the name "Laos F.C." with the name of the team derived from the term "laos" which means "has beens".[3]

Establishment and participation in the UFL

With the renaming of the club to "Global Football Club" in 2009, club owner Dan Palami chose to form a separate team which carried the "Laos Football Club" name. The team shares its history with Global, and is considered its sister team.

Laos had their first major success in the United Football League (UFL) in the 2015 season, when they won the UFL Division 2 Championship with an unbeaten record. The championship earned them promotion to the first division, allowing them to play in the Philippines' top flight for the first time in their history. But promotion and relegation system was discontinued for the 2016 season which meant that Laos competed in the only division of the 2016 season.

Weekend Football League

After the UFL was disbanded, Laos joined the Elite Division of the Weekend Football League (WFL) for the local league's 2017 season which saw the participation of the second teams of Philippines Football League clubs, and F.C. Meralco Manila, former UFL club, Green Archers United F.C., Manila Tala F.C, and Kaya Elite FC with the latter two having previous WFL participation.[5][6]

First team squad

As of 7 May 2016[1]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  PHI Jose Adolfo 5 DF  SDN Badreldin El Habib 6 MF  PHI Ryan Buenaflor 8 MF  PHI Vincent Gambana 14 FW  PHI Finn Gumela 19 DF  PHI Raymond Leigh 22 DF  PHI Moreno Oliver 23 MF  PHI Ben Tolete 25 GK  PHI John Lloyd Bastasa 27 MF  PHI Eugene Cablay 29 DF  PHI Michael Atienza 50 FW  SDN Baeheldin El Habib

No. Pos. Nation Player 55 DF  GHA Alhassan Mohammedu 77 MF  IRN Shayan Jafary Dastjerdi 81 DF  PHI Jhomar Almento 82 DF  PHI Niño Ochotorena 88 MF  PHI Mike Riconalla 99 FW  IRN Hamed Haji Mahdi -- MF  PHI Jose Dimaano -- FW  SDN Izzeldin El Habib -- DF  PHI Juan Pique -- MF  IRN Shahin Shahrood -- DF  PHI Lanz Silverio -- MF  PHI Lorenz Silverio

References

1. "Line ups for @GlobalFC_PH and @LaosFC_ph #UFL2016". Twitter. United Football League Philippines. 7 May 2016. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
2. "About Us". Laos F.C. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
3. "About Global F.C. (new)". Global Football Club (new website). Archived from the original on 11 November 2013. Retrieved 31 December 2013.
4. Smit, f Hans; Jamlang, Jing; Dan, Palami (31 October 2013). "What Dan Palami Has Done for Philippine Football". Hans On (Podcast). Season 1. Episode 2 (in English and Filipino). New Media Factory TV. Event occurs at 5:15–6:25. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
5. "FM 360 8: Why the Elite League? Reasons why Manila clubs are going with the Weekend Futbol League". Football Manila 360. 8 July 2017. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
6. Sevilla, Jeremiah (28 July 2017). "Manila Tala, Laos eye breakthrough wins in WFL". Manila Times. Retrieved 10 January 2018.