Filipino football club Kaya FC is ready to kick off in a match against Sydney FC on Tuesday, March 8, with tickets available now via Ticketek: Buy offical Sydney FC v Kaya FC tickets.
The game will at held Netstrata Jubilee Stadium in Kogarah with a 7:30pm kick off.
Sydney FC is a regional powerhouse and currently in fifth place in the A-League, the highest-level professional men’s soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. Kaya must overcome Sydney in order to gain a spot in the AFC Champions League. The AFC Champions League is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation.
This has been dubbed Kaya FC’s “do or die match” against Sydney FC, and the team is looking forward to meeting the Filipino community face to face. Filipino Sydneysiders are encouraged to attend the match and support the team.
In a Kaya FC-Iloilo club statement, the team is shares their optimism for 2022, and the challenges they may face:
“Coming off a historic year that featured the Filipino club’s breakthrough into the top flight of Asian football, and a return to trophy-winning ways domestically, the 2022 campaign begins with an away fixture in the land Down Under.
Should Iloilo pull off the upset, they enter Group H, joining two-time winners Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors from South Korea, Japan’s Yokohama F Marinos, and Vietnam’s Hoang Anh Gia Lai at a centralized location in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam from April 15 to May 1. A defeat would see the side relegated to the AFC Cup taking place later in June.
In last year’s edition of the ACL qualifiers, the boys certainly rose to the occasion— celebrating the club’s twenty-fifth anniversary by besting China’s Shanghai Port FC and gatecrashing the prestigious competition. It’ll be a much taller task this time around, but situations like this are what this team’s all about.
From repurposed basketball courts in the 90’s to the world-class pitches of the present day, needs to remember the club’s namesake: “Káya” [We Can].
Getting a taste of the Champions League level last season has made the team even hungrier, dead set on coming back and repeating history. Everyone’s chomping at the bit to put on a show – not only for the fans in Iloilo around the Philippines, but also for the many Filipinos who call Australia home.
“Aside from being able to test ourselves against some of Asia’s best clubs, one of the things we really look forward to when playing in AFC competitions is getting a chance to connect with Filipino communities all over the continent,” said Kaya President and GM Paul Tolentino. “Now that restrictions are starting to loosen up, we’re eager to get back to meeting our countrymen face-to-face.”
To all of our fellow Filipinos currently residing in and around the Sydney area, Kaya FC-Iloilo would like to invite you to come support us at the Netstrata Jubilee Stadium on March 8. For such a big match on enemy grounds, we sure could use every bit of support we can get and we hope to see you there!”
AFC Champions League | Preliminary Round
Sydney FC vs. Kaya FC–Iloilo
Tuesday, March 8, 2022 | 7:30PM (4:30 PM PH Time)
Netstrata Jubilee Stadium, Sydney
