UCFC breaks silence amid concerns over club's turmoils

Photo credits: Philippines Football League

Rumors started circulating in the local club football circle that United City FC would not be joining the upcoming season of the Philippines Football League because of financial turmoil that led to unpaid salaries of its players and staff, so they decided to answer those allegations through a club statement sent to us.

In the said statement, the club said, "United Clark Sports Holding, the owning company of UCFC, secured its major investment and therefore the Board (and not as widely believed as our CEO) instructed the Club to build the academy pitches in Clark first before spending more salaries on professional football players."

Furthermore, the club mentioned they had stated this in a letter sent out to the Philippine Football Federation who had accepted the club's decision of not participating this season.

"UCFC therefore will not play in the upcoming PFL season and instead use the budget to build a football facility and to move the club to Clark. PFL is not sustainable for clubs at the moment and our efforts are more helpful for the PFF than having a team in the league. Cebu has shown the power of owning your own facility and we are finally taking the same path."

UCFC also answered allegations about Eric Gottschalk, the club's CEO, as the one making these decisions on his own by saying, "Our CEO is not the sole owner of the Club, he takes his directives from the owning company board."

The club requests that its fans and even its detractors fact-check their sources before posting any malicious attempts to tarnish someone's reputation on social media and in the football community.

They've added, "This is unacceptable and only reflects poorly on the one posting, commenting, and spreading rumors and gossip."

The club stated that they'd be willing to answer the issues themselves should they be contacted through the proper channels available through the club, the PFF, and FIFA.

Finally, UCFC refuted the allegations about their finances saying, "The club does not have financial difficulties and will continue to actively support the PFF and comply fully with the PFL club licensing within the required deadlines which includes payments to players and staff, if anything is due.

As of press time, this is the only statement that the club has released regarding their withdrawal from the league and more to come is expected in the next coming days.