PNVFI Plans Champions League in July

Philippine volleyball has the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) which is set to operate as the first professional volleyball league in the country, There's also the Philippine SuperLiga (PSL) which decided to retain its status as an amateur league. At the collegiate level, there are volleyball tournaments in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

If things go smoothly, the volleyball community will have another league to watch out for.

During Tuesday's online Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) forum, Philippine National Volleyball Federation Inc. (PNVFI) President Tats Suzara unveiled a 10-point strategy for Philippine volleyball and among those points is holding a national league. 

“This national league is the same as in Thailand and Indonesia where these are owned by the federation," Suzara said.

“I plan to propose it to the board and to call it PNVF Champions League,” he added. 

The said league will feature eight teams and it will be operated according to the highest standards set forth by the sport's international federation: the Federation Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB). An Events Council committee will be created within the sporting association that will regulate the Champions League as well as other volleyball leagues in the country.

“This is the same as with the FIVB. There’s a chairman, a secretary, and four to five members and, all of them are members of the council from the PVL, PSL, UAAP, NCAA and so on,” Suzara explained.

Since the situation to hold sports everywhere is not yet stable due to the ongoing 2019 Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic, the former president of the PSL revealed the PNVFI Champions League could happen inside a bubble in July. "I’m looking at a bubble type of national league if everything is still restricted due to the pandemic,"

"That’s why I said it would be in July to give ample time to players to train. Players are still active in their respective leagues, so I think July is a very good date," Suzara concluded.

Photo is from ESPN