MEMBERS of the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) were stunned into silence when they finally learned the financial mess the PFF is in.
A series of judgements by the Players’ Status Camber of the FIFA Football Tribunal means the PFF has to pay some P70 million in back wages to former coaches of the men’s national team.
One of those decisions is a $585,605–P33.9M–judgement in favor of Ramadani Herzirdan, who was part of Scott Cooper’s coaching staff. Fifa issued the judgement on May 17, 2022 and the PFF filed an appeal at the Committee for Arbitration in Sports, which confirmed Fifa’s decision on July 10, 2022. (A copy of the decision is available at the end of this post.)
PFF president John Gutierrez, who assumed office in November, 2023 revealed the decisions during the PFF’s Ordinary Congress last July 27, 2024 in Siargao.
“They were surprised at the huge amount the PFF has to pay,” said a source who was present during the congress.
The source said there were a lot of unanswered questions because most of the financial transactions involved the then Azkals Foundation.
In an interview in May, 2024, Dan Palami said, “Hi Mike, will consult lawyers involved as there are NDAs involved. But I think the letters sent by my lawyers in Belgium and Switzerland will give you an idea.”
Meanwhile, Gutierrez told CebuSports.Net in an earlier interview the PFF is paying $50,000 a month–P2.9 million–until Herzirdan gets fully paid.
The interview came days after Jeff Cheng, the popular manager of the women’s team who steered the Filipinas to the World Cup resigned and Gutierrez was subjected to a series of attacks on social media.
“I don’t care about that. This (PFF financial obligations) is what I’m focusing on,” Gutierrez said.
Gutierrez was in Cebu for a business matter and requested CebuSports.Net not to publish details of the interview until after the PFF Congress.
“They are attacking me on social media, are they writing about the fact that despite this, the financial assistance to the RFAs has not stopped?” he said. “I know what they’re trying to do, they’re trying to put a gap between Sir Jeff Cheng and me. But I’m not going to fall for that.”
In the time of former PFF president Mariano Araneta, RFAs received P7,500 monthly financial assistance and Gutierrez doubled the amount.
During that interview, Gutierrez said the PFF received yet another judgement from Fifa ordering it to pay some $100,000 in back wages to another coach.
“Just wait during the congress, we will reveal all,” he said.
CebuSports.Net is trying to get the details of the other decisions and will publish them once available.