A chat with Philippine football exec Freddy Gonzalez

Freddy Gonzalez has been a byword in the sport of football in our country for the longest time. He was one of the few players to have played internationally, before the country started to really “export” talent.

After retiring, Gonzalez wanted to give back to the sport, and he does that now as part of the new faces behind the Philippine Football Federation (PFF), as the Director for National Teams.

Philstar.com caught up with Freddie to discuss what’s been keeping him busy and to explain the direction of the PFF.

So what exactly is your role as Director for National Teams?

Freddie: I’m steering the direction where our national team should be going, between now and the future, the idea is to put in place programs and policies to make sure everything goes smoothly with the operations of the National squad, coaching staff, recruitment, and all that. Basically, anything to do with our national teams. 

Does talent identification also fall under your purview?

Freddie: Yes, everything from talents here and abroad, coaching staff: local and foreign, as well as everything from camps to training schedules, match schedules, which tournaments to join, it’s a busy office. We have the most staff in the PFF, because there’s a whole ecosystem that works around it like travel, technical side, coaching, all have to come together for it to work. There’s a lot of coordination, planning, logistics. It’s not as simple as doing call-ups and then you play. 

What’s the vision of this group of officers of the PFF?

Freddie: The vision and the mission as a whole right now is to really develop local football in all aspects. From the players, the referees, the coaches, the staffing, everything. That’s the only way you can sustain proper growth moving forward. Ultimately, all these things have to be addressed. It can’t be just the players. You need the coaches, the refs, the competitions where these players will play, where will they get the match fitness to play at an international level. You need to develop everything all together. We want to increase the talent pool locally, and close the gap between the foreign based and local based Filipinos. We also need to catch up with the other